Tawade 'admits' he was looking for weapons

Kolhapur: Sanatan Sanstha member Virendra Tawade, who was arrested by the CBI for allegedly plotting Narendra Dabholkar's murder, is said to have admitted to have been looking for a revolver and bullets.
After dodging the CBI interrogators' queries for days since his arrest, Tawade started spilling the beans when he was brought face-to-face before a key witness, the one he had been pursuing for the revolver and bullets.
A senior police officer privy to the interrogation said the witness, who was presented before Tawade as a co-accused in the Dabholkar murder case, said in the presence of the CBI sleuths that Tawade had met him twice and called him many times for firearms and ammunition.
Since Tawade's arrest on June 10, CBI officials have been questioning him about his meeting with the Kolhapur-based witness for revolvers and bullets. However, Tawade was insistent that he had met the witness only to inquire about his health.
Before Tawade's arrest, the CBI had convinced the Kolhapur resident to become a witness in the case. "On Tuesday, when the witness was brought face-to-face with Tawade, the CBI officials tried to make it out to be that he was a co-accused in the case. They shouted at the witness, ordering him to sit on the floor. When they asked Tawade to speak, he told the witness that he had related to the CBI how he had met him once in 2013 to enquire about his health," the senior police officer said.
At the same time, the CBI officials asked the witness to give his account. "The witness told Tawade that he was in the custody of the CBI for the last two days and had shared information about their conversations to make revolvers and bullets. The CBI officials then asked the witness to elaborate every single detail before Tawade that they had already recorded," the officer said.
"When the witness finished giving his statement, Tawade was stunned. He was silent for a while and then admitted to his meetings with the witness and the subsequent phone calls. He also told the investigating officers that he had forgotten some details which he recalls after the witness's statement," the officer said.
According to CBI officials, Tawade had not admitted to the details of his communication with Sarang Akolkar. "However, the witness recognized Akolkar from the photographs shown to him by the police. As per the witness's account, Tawade had introduced him to Akolkar in Kolhapur in 2013. The witness said he had met Akolkar thrice," they said.
The identification is significant as Akolkar has been absconding after the 2009 Goa bomb blast case. Interpol issued a red corner notice against him in July 2012 on the request of the National Investigation Agency, which is probing the Goa blast case.
The CBI officials also showed the witness about 10 photos and asked him to identify the two men who had come to Kolhapur seeking a few days' stay on Tawade's directives. "The witness could identify one of them as Vinay Pawar. Pawar is a resident of Umbraj in Satara district," the officials said.