[Govind Pansare murder] Legitimate expectation of public to see that perpetrators are brought to book: Bombay High Court

Observing that there is a legitimate expectation from the public to see that those who murdered Communist Party of India politician Govind Pansare are brought to book, the Bombay High Court on Monday transferred the investigation into the case to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)..The murder was previously being investigated by the State CID’s Special Investigation Team (SIT).A Division Bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sharmila Deshmukh noted that even after a lapse of seven years, the SIT had not made any major breakthrough in the investigation.“This Court in the aforesaid petition has been monitoring the investigation since 2016. SIT has been regularly submitting reports with respect to steps taken to nab the shooters. However, till date, they are absconding,” the Court recorded..The Bench opined that the transfer of the investigation was necessary to enable the ATS to look at the probe from its angle, as enough time has been given to SIT to conduct the probe.“The wait for the family of Comrade Pansare has been long, for almost seven years. There is a legitimate expectation not only for the family of Comrade Pansare, but also the public at large, to see that the perpetrators of the ghastly crime, are brought to book. And, this is the responsibility of the investigating machinery, which exists to preserve law and order. It is necessary that investigation is taken to its logical end, failing which, the perpetrators of the crime would be emboldened,” the order stated..The Court was hearing a plea filed by Smita Pansare, the daughter of Govind Pansare, who was shot down by some extremists on February 16, 2015 near his house in Kolhapur. He succumbed to his injuries four days later..In her plea, Smita Pansare stated that there was a larger conspiracy in the murders of Pansare and other activists like Narendra Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh, which ought to be investigated.It was claimed that the four murders are interlinked and that the mastermind behind these attacks was common.Advocate Abhay Nevagi, arguing for the petitioner, contended that the ATS had cracked the 2018 arms haul case and found the sharp shooters in the murder case of Dabholkar, who was similarly shot dead..On August 1, the State indicated that it would either form a fresh team of officers to further investigate into the murder or transfer the probe to the ATS..Along with Nevagi, Advocates Sandesh Shukla, Amit Singh and Gayatri V appeared for the petitioner. The State was represented by Senior Advocate and Special Public Prosecutor Ashok Mundargi and Advocate MM Deshmukh. Advocate DP Singh appeared for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)..[Read order]