PUNE: The court of special UAPA judge S R Navander here on Monday passed an order stating that charges relating to terrorism, besides murder and criminal conspiracy, among others, will be framed against ENT surgeon and Sanatan Sanstha operative Virendrasinh Tawde and three others in the August 20, 2013, murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.
Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, the two men accused by the CBI of having shot Dabholkar, and Vikram Bhave, who is accused of assisting the duo in a recce of the crime spot, the escape route and related aspects, are also to be tried for terrorism. The CBI described Tawde, who is from Panvel, as a key conspirator in the case.
The court said Mumbai lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar, who is among the five accused against whom the CBI filed chargesheets in the case, will be tried only for the offence under Section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC in view of the evidence placed on record against him. It is the CBI case that Punalekar had advised Kalaskar to destroy the firearms allegedly used in the murder.
The framing of charges will be done at the next hearing on September 15.
The CBI had sought trial of all five accused under Section 16 (terrorism) of the UAPA, sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (common intention) and 201 (evidence destruction) of the IPC, besides sections 3 (25), 27 (1) and 27 (3) of the Arms Act.
Defence lawyer Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, appearing via video-conferencing, argued that the court should decide the bail plea of the accused before framing charges. The court said it cannot decide the bail plea as the matter was pending in the high court.
The court read out the charges to the accused, but could not proceed with framing of charges as Tawde and Andure, who were produced via video-conferencing from Yerawada jail here and Aurangabad jail, respectively, sought a week’s time to enable them meet and consult their family and lawyers on the point of pleading guilty or not guilty.
Bhave, who is out on bail granted by the high court, was present in court while Kalaskar, who is lodged in Arthur Road jail in Mumbai, could not be produced via video-conferencing owing to a technical issue. Punalekar appeared via video-conferencing from his Mumbai office.
