Govind Pansare murder: Bombay High Court ends monitoring of probe, orders quick trial

The Bombay High Court on Thursday decided to end its monitoring of the progress made by the police in the investigation of the case concerning the 2015 murder of Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Govind Pansare..A Bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata observed today that the main task remaining for the investigation agency was to trace two accused persons who were absconding. There is no need for the Court to monitor this aspect, the Bench opined. "It is thus clear that, the only aspect remained to be investigated is, tracing of the said two absconding accused. According to us, only for the purpose of arrest of absconding accused, continuous monitoring of the further investigation by this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is not necessary. After the accused persons are arrested, the investigating agency can report it to the trial Court as per the provisions of CrPC," it said..The Bench proceeded to dispose of a plea filed by prime accused Virendra Tawade against the High Court's continued monitoring of the case, on these terms. It, however, directed the trial court to expedite the trial, adding that hearings must be conducted on a daily basis..Pansare was shot dead by extremists in February 2015 near his house in Kolhapur. He succumbed to his injuries five days later. His daughter, Smita Pansare, moved the High Court raising concerns about the slow progress made by the investigating agency. She also contended that there was a larger conspiracy in the murders of Pansare and other activists like Narendra Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh. She argued that the four murders were interlinked and that the mastermind behind these attacks was common.The investigation into Pansare's murder was earlier conducted by a special investigation team (SIT) of the Crime Investigation Department of the State Police. In August 2022, the case was transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on orders of the High Court. .The petition, however, was left pending for the purpose of court monitoring which the accused challenged. .During the hearing, Senior Advocate Anand Grover, representing Smita Pansare and Megha Pansare (the daughter and daughter-in-law of the deceased) argued that continued monitoring of the investigation by the Court was essential to ensure the arrest of two absconding accused. He pointed out that earlier orders indicated slow progress in the investigation but after it was transferred to the ATS, significant strides were made and the masterminds behind the crime were identified. .Grover emphasized that the investigation was initially sluggish and it was only after the Court's monitoring that the ATS took extraordinary measures. Grover also highlighted that all four murders—those of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, Comrade Govind Pansare, Professor MM Kalburgi, and Gauri Lankesh—were linked and allegedly orchestrated by the same mastermind. He added that the investigation into this connection was still ongoing, and therefore, the monitoring of the current case should continue..In contrast, Senior Advocate Ashok Mundargi, appearing for the ATS, informed the Court that all allegations made by the petitioners have been thoroughly investigated. He stated that, apart from the two absconding accused, the investigation has concluded from all angles. Mundargi submitted a report, dated November 14, 2024, signed by the Superintendent of Police of ATS which indicated that the investigation was comprehensive, with two accused —Vinay B Pawar and Sarang D Akolkar — still on the run.After considering the arguments, reports and Supreme Court precedents, the Court decided to dispose of the petition. "After taking into consideration the ratio enunciated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the aforesaid decisions and applying it to the facts of the present case, this Court is of the considered opinion that, further monitoring of the investigation of the present crime is not necessary," the Court held. .Senior Advocate Anand Grover along with Advocates Amit Singh, Kabeer Pansare, Anasamah Sayed and Tanuj Kushare instructed by Abhay Nevagi and Associates appeared for the Pansare Family.Advocates Subhash Jha, Siddharth Jha, Apeksha Sharma, Sumeet Upadhyay and Ashish Saxena instructed by Law Global Advocates appeared for Virendra Tawade.Special Public Prosecutor and Senior Advocate Ashok Mundargi along with Additional Public Prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh appeared for the State/ATS..[Read Judgment]