Narendra Dabholkar murder case: Bombay High Court discontinues monitoring since trial underway

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said that it would discontinue monitoring the case concerning the murder of activist Narendra Dabholkar..A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and PD Naik opined that further monitoring of the investigation would not be necessary at this point since the chargesheet has been filed and and the trial was underway. "It is thus clear that, the investigation of the present crime has already been completed and the trial of it is steadily progressing. As of 29th March, 2023, prosecution had already examined 18 witnesses. Even as per the submissions of the learned counsel for the Petitioners, the monitoring of the present crime is necessary only for the purpose of tracing out the alleged mastermind behind the aforestated four murders.... this Court is of the view that, further monitoring on the investigation of the present crime is not necessary," the order stated..Dabholkar, founder and head of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, an anti-superstition outfit, was shot dead in August 2013, allegedly by members of a radical outfit called Sanatan Sanstha. After taking over the investigation in 2014, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against five accused in the murder case.The trial in the case commenced in September 2021 after charges were framed against all five accused..Meanwhile in 2015, Dabholkar's daughter and son moved the High Court seeking the appointment of an independent Special Investigation Team and for the court to monitor the investigation carried out.Since August 2015, the High Court has been monitoring the investigation..In December 2022, Virendrasinh Tawade, the prime accused in the murder and conspiracy case, moved the Court with an interim application in the present case, to discontinue the monitoring. He contended that since the trial in the murder case has commenced, the High Court can now stop monitoring the case.Another accused also moved the Court subsequently seeking to discontinue the monitoring..During one of the previous hearings, the High Court had expressed that it could not perpetually monitor the caseUpon the Court's direction to submit the status of the investigation, the CBI informed the court that the investigation in the case was complete and a completion report has been filed with their headquarters.The investigating agency also told the Court that the trial could be concluded in two months, if it is expedited. The Court was told that out of 32 witnesses, about 8 witnesses remained to be examined and this should not take a long time.Under these circumstances and considering the precedents set by the Supreme Court with regard to court monitoring of investigation, the Court decided that further monitoring was not required. .Advocates Abhay Nevagi,Amit Singh, Kabeer Pansare, and Shivangi Deshmukh represented the petitioners.Advocates Subhash Jha and Ghanshyam Upadhyay appeared for the intervenors. Additional Solicitor General Anil Sigh and advocates Sanesh Patil and DP Singh represented the CBI..[Read Order]