Maharashtra and Karnataka police are suspecting a connection between the murders of rationalists Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi, with the arrest of two more people.
A day after Samir Gaikwad was arrested in connection with the murder of Govind Pansare, Maharashtra police detained two brothers Sriram Jadhav (23) and Sushil Jadhav (21) from Hukkeri in Belagavi district.
“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 in Kolhapur. Police say they are related to Samir, according to a report by CNN-IBN.
Kannada writer and scholar Kalburgi was murdered in his house in Dharwad on August 30, 2015. Communist Party of India member Govind Pansare (81) died on February 20, 2015, four days after he and his wife Uma were attacked.
The arrests come days after DG (CID) Kishore Chandra told Kannada daily Prajavani that Kalburgi’s views were likely to have been the motive for his murder. He said that they had ruled out family disputes or a property dispute within the family as a motive after investigating leads.
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.
Police Probe On
Police raided Gaikwad’s residence in Sangli and recovered 23 mobiles, one large knife and the Sanatan Sanstha literature. Further investigations are on in other parts of the state.
A police team from Karnataka has also reached to question Gaikwad to ascertain a possible link between the Pansare and Kalburgi’s killings.
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.
In connection with Kalburgi’s murder, the Karnataka police have so far questioned Assistant Director of the Department of Kannada and Culture Vidyavati Bhajantri, Belagavi district President of Jai Karnataka Sanghatane Anant Byakod, Akhila Bharata Hindu Mahasabha state President Swami Pranavananda, Dharwad BJP corporator who was formerly with the Sri Rama Sene Shankar Shelake, some writers and students.
Kalburgi’s son Shrivijaya had told The News Minute that his family had cooperated with the police and provided them with all the information they asked for. He said that DG Kishore Chandra had met his mother.
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