Kolhapur: Maharashtra Police have detained two people from Karnataka in connection with the killing of senior Communist leader Govind Pansare here in February, a police official said on Thursday.

“We have detained two people from Karnataka in connection with the murder and are investigating further,” Additional DGO (CID) Pune, Sanjay Kumar, who is heading a SIT for the case, told media persons here.

The suspects detained are Sushil Jadhav and Shriram Jadhav and their links with various other individuals and organizations are being probed.

The two detentions came a day after Samir V. Gaikwad, an activist of the right-wing Sanatan Sanstha was arrested from Sangli, and was remanded in police custody till September 23.

Kumar said Gaikwad was not cooperating in the investigations, while the Sanatan Sanstha has accused the police of scheming to implicate him in the Pansare killing.

Pansare was attacked on February 16 in Kolhapur when he was shot at from a close range. the 81-year-old leader died of bullet injuries four days later. His wife Uma, who was also shot and seriously injured, survived the attack.

Police raided Gaikwad’s residence in Sangli and recovered 23 mobiles, one large knife and the Sanatan Sanstha literature, while further investigations are on in other parts of the state.

A police team from Karnataka has also arrived here to question Gaikwad to ascertain a possible link between the Pansare killing and the recent murder of Kannada litterateur M. M. Kalburgi, who was shot dead outside his home in Dharwad on August 30.

Investigators are probing whether the killing of Pune rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, who was shot dead in August 2013, is also connected to the murders of Pansare and Kalburgi.

Investigations are continuing simultaneously in different parts of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.

(Agencies)

Mumbai: One person was today arrested in connection with the killing of veteran Communist leader and rationalist Govind Pansare in February this year.

Sameer Gaikwad, in his early 30s, was arrested from Sangli early today after a joint operation by Kolhapur and Sangli police.

Police said Gaikwad has some criminal backgound.

He was produced in a court at Kolhapur in western Maharashtra which remanded him in police custody till September 23.

Pansare was gunned down outside his home in Sagar Mala locality of Kolhapur city on February 16 and succumbed to his injuries on February 20 at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital.

The arrest comes close on the heels of the recent killing of Kannada scholar and researcher M M Kalburgi at Dharwad in Karnataka on August 30. Another rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was killed in Pune in 2013.

Left parties and rationalist forums have voiced deep concern over the delay in tracking down and apprehending the killers of these social activists and held that fundmanetal elements could be behind these murders.

The Karnataka government yesterday announced Rs 5 lakh reward to those who could provide clues about the murder of Kalburgi.

Dabholkar, who spent much of his life exposing sham rituals, miracles, black magic, and godmen, was murdered in Pune in 2013 and there has been no breakthrough in his case yet.

Pansare’s family has been demanding a probe into the Communist leader’s murder. They had also filed a petition in the Bombay High Court which had asked Maharashtra government to file its response to the petition seeking constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the killing.

Till now, the probe by police teams had not yielded much apart from vaguely probable sketches of the assassins and the recovery of a couple of motorbikes from Kolhapur city which were suspected to have been used by the killers.

(Agencies)

A file photo of CPI leader Govind Pansare at a protest rally against the Maharashtra government’s SEZ land policy at Azad Maidan. Photo: HT

Mumbai: Veteran communist leader and anti-toll tax campaigner Govind Pansare, who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds in an attack on Monday, died on Friday at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital. He was flown to Mumbai earlier on Friday for treatment.

Pansare, who was in the forefront of the anti-road toll agitation, and his wife Uma had been out for a morning walk in Kolhapur when bike-borne assailants shot four rounds at them. Investigators said a country made weapon was used for the attack.

Pansare was rushed to a local hospital; he had received injuries in the neck, armpit and right leg, and was on ventilator support.

The spot where the shooting took place is a quiet, residential area and no CCTVs were placed there, the police said. There was no eye-witness to the shooting either.

CPI leader Govind Pansare is being shifted to a hospital after he was shot at near his home in Kolhapur, Maharashtra on Monday. Photo: PTI

The police are preparing sketches of the suspects on the basis of information provided by Uma, who is recovering and is now able to speak.

Teams of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Mumbai police are assisting the Kolhapur police into the probe on the attack.

(Agencies)

Kolhapur: Unidentified persons shot at veteran communist leader Govind Pansare (78) and his wife Uma near their residence in Sagarmala, Kolhapur district of Maharashtra, on Monday morning.

The assailants fled from the spot after the attack. Local residents who heard the gun shots around 8:30 am initially thought it was noise of crackers busted for celebrating victory of India over Pakistan in the World Cup cricket match. But soon some residents found Pansares lying in a pool of blood. They were then admitted to a hospital in Kolhapur for treatment. Pansare’s condition was reported to be critical, but stable. His wife Uma was known to be out of danger.

Pansare is a well known name in the communist movement and is known to be a critic of right wing groups. Police are probing if his speeches, agitations and movement against the opposite ideology has anything do with the attack. So far there is no clue regarding the assailants.

Ankit Goyal, Additional superintendent of Kolhapur police told the Indian Express that both Pansare and his wife were attacked in the morning at Sagarmala. “Police teams are on spot. Assailants have not been identified yet. All angles are being probed. Investigation is on.”

The incident has shaken the social political circles of Maharashtra. It is being compared to the murder on rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar in Pune about one and a half year ago. Dabholkar was also shot dead while he was on morning walk on the Omkareshwar bridge on August 20, 2013. Now, Pansare has also been shot at in the morning hours. Doctors have identified a bullet in his chest.

Speaking to news channels, chief minister of state Devendra Fadnavis condemned the attack and said that he has asked the superintendent of Kolhapur police for carrying out detail probe into this case and find out the assailants.

Social activist Medha Patkar said,”Assailants should be arrested and it should be probed whether there is any common link with attack on Comrade Pansare and Dr Dabholkar’s murder. Police should probe the speeches given by Pansare in the recent times and other aspects.”

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar told media it is sad that progressive persons like Dabholkar and Pansare are being attacked in progressive state like Maharashtra. “In depth investigation should be done,” he said.

(Agencies)