Gauri Lankesh murder accused wins as Independent in Jalna civic polls

Pune: Shrikant Pangarkar, one of the 18 accused facing trial in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru and currently out on bail, won as an independent candidate by defeating his BJP rival Raosaheb Dhoble in a contest for ward no. 13 in Jalna Municipal Corporation. Pangarkar, also an accused in the 2018 Nalasopara arms haul case, was granted bail by Bombay high court in Aug 2024 in the case investigated by state anti-terrorism squad (ATS). On Sept 4, 2024, Karnataka HC ordered his release on bail in the Lankesh murder case.
Elsewhere, Pune gangster Suryakant alias Bandu Andekar's daughter-in-law Sonali Vanraj Andekar, and sister-in-law, Laxmi Udaykant Andekar, all arrested in the murder of his 18-year-old grandson out of a family dispute and gang rivalry, were elected from behind bars. The two Andekar women were fielded by RPI (Kharat), an ally of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. Shiv Sena's former Jalgaon mayor Lalit Kolhe, arrested in a bogus call centre case, and currently lodged in jail, his son, Piyush, and mother, Sindhu, won civic polls from the north Maharashtra city; BJP's Shalan Shinde, among the 15 accused arrested on charge of murdering a rival MNS functionary in Solapur on Jan 3 this year during a quarrel over withdrawal of nomination papers, also won from behind bars in Solapur civic elections. NCP's Aazam Kazi, externed on Jan 8 from Sangli and Kolhapur, won from Miraj ward no 6. The civic poll results were, however, not favourable to relatives of some other criminals on record. Pune gangster Gajanan Marne's wife, who had won the 2012 civic polls on an MNS ticket, was rejected by voters a second time in the 2026 polls after facing a similar fate in 2017. On both occasions, Marne contested on an NCP ticket. Gangster Bappu Nayar lost from Pune's Indiranagar ward no. 39. In Nashik, former RPI (A) corporator Prakash Londhe, who is in jail since Oct 2025 in an attempted murder and extortion case, lost to his BJP rival in Satpur ward no. 11. The civic polls run up witnessed a lot of debate, particularly in Pune, over political parties supporting relatives of criminals. The results have once again ignited controversy. Pangarkar contested the Jalna civic polls as an independent despite his long association with Shiv Sena in the past as a member of then-Jalna Municipal Council from 2001 to 2011. In the run-up to the 2024 state assembly elections, Pangarkar was appointed by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as the party's poll campaign committee chief for Jalna constituency. Pangarkar was arrested in Aug 2018 as one of the conspirators in the murder of Lankesh on Sept 5, 2017, in Bengaluru. The killing triggered nationwide outrage surrounding freedom of expression, dissent and political intolerance. Karnataka HC, while granting him and three others bail on grounds of parity with four co-accused released earlier on bail, noted that the petitioners were not present at the spot of the crime on the day of the incident and there was no likelihood of the trial getting over in the near future. In Pune, the elections in the Raviwar Peth-Nana Peth ward no. 23, from where the two Andekar family members were contesting, were keenly watched. The family has held considerable political clout in the area over the last three decades. Sonali's husband Vanraj was an NCP corporator in 2022 when the PMC body was dissolved. Vanraj was murdered on Sept 1, 2024, over a family dispute involving his brothers-in-law and Andekar's aide-turned-rival. The Sept 5, 2025, murder of Bandu Andekar's 18-year-old grandson, Ayush Komkar, allegedly by his men to avenge Vanraj's murder, led the police to going hard against the Andekars to break their hold in the area. Bandu, his son, Krushna, Sonali and Laxmi were among family members arrested in the Komkar murder case and are lodged in Yerawada central prison. The police invoked MCOCA and also got PMC to demolish an entire illegal fish market, a prime source of hafta collection and moneymaking for the Andekars for years together. The election generated considerable interest against this backdrop.