Prosecution concludes final argument in Dabholkar case

Pune: Special public prosecutor Prakash Suryawanshi on Saturday submitted before a special UAPA court that the prosecution had proved guilt of the five accused in the rationalist Narendra Dabholkar murder case beyond reasonable doubt, while concluding final arguments before the judgment in the case.
The five accused include prime conspirator Panvel-based ENT specialist Virendrasinh Tawde, alleged shooters Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, Mumbai-based lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and his aide Vikram Bhave.
Dabholkar was shot by two bike-borne men on Vitthal Ramji Shinde bridge near Omkareshwar temple around 7.15am on Aug 20, 2013, while he was on a morning walk.
The prosecution has examined 20 witnesses to prove its case against the accused. The lawyers representing the accused had taken the stand of alibi (accused was not present at the crime scene) and examined two defence witnesses to claim that Andure and Kalaskar were present at the houses of their sisters in Nashik and Aurangabad, respectively, to get rakhi tied on their wrists when Dabholkar was shot dead.
Lawyer Omkar Nevagi representing Dabholkar’s son Hamid will file written notes of the arguments in support of the prosecution’s case on Feb 22.
The court has deferred hearing of the case to enable defence lawyers Prakash Salsingikar, Virendra Ichalkaranjikar and Suvarna Avhad-Vast representing the accused to advance their arguments on March 1 and 2.
Suryawanshi submitted before the special judge PP Jadhav, “The plea of alibi has failed because the defence witnesses did not file written or oral complaints before the trial court, Bombay HC and the CBI that they had tied rakhi to their brothers. They also did not furnish photographic evidence to support the claim. Andure and Kalaskar did not take the defence of alibi when the court had recorded their statements under Section 313 of the CrPC.”
The prosecution termed the behaviour of the defence witnesses as “improbable and unnatural”, while claiming that the their statements were an afterthought.
Suryawanshi also submitted that the extra judicial confession by Andure to a witness that he and Kalaskar had shot dead Dabholkar was reliable because it corroborated with the evidence of eyewitnesses.