Dabholkar case: HC pulls up CBI for leaking probe details

“Your (CBI) progress report is nothing but news reports. All this is already there in the public domain. How does the media come to know about the identity of witnesses in the case and where the agency is going to conduct searches? Everything is revealed to the media,” the court said.

The stinging remarks against the premier probe agency came from a Bench of Justices SC Dharmadhikari and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi, while hearing a batch of petitions filed by the families of rationalist Dabholkar and slain communist leader and activist Govind Pansare, seeking the High Court monitoring of both the investigations.

“You will be ruining the entire probe if you conduct yourself in this fashion. Absconding accused in the case must be getting details pertaining to the probe from the media. Hats off to CBI,” the Bench observed.

“All this may seem trivial now, but they are very important lacunae when the trial is conducted. Tomorrow, who is going to protect the witnesses and family members, who are speaking freely to media these days. Some restraint and patience are required by the family members. This cheap publicity for everything is disgusting and it affects fair investigation and trial,” it said.

The court warned that it will not hesitate to direct disciplinary action against the officer(s) concerned revealing investigation details and would put him in jail.Court asks Maha if Pansare probe transferred to CBI. The Bench also sought to know from the Maharashtra government if it had decided to seek a CBI probe into the Pansare case as claimed by the lawyer of the slain activist’s family, even as the prosecutor said that he had no such instruction.

It also came down heavily on the CID and the CBI, probing the Pansare and Dabholkar cases respectively, for slow progress in the investigation.

The Pansare family had approached the state government, seeking a CBI probe into the matter and the government gave its consent on Wednesday, lawyer Abhay Nevgi, representing the family of the slain leader, told HC.

However, Public Prosecutor Sandeep Shinde submitted that he did not have any instruction from the government on the issue.

The court then asked Shinde to find out if the government had decided to seek a CBI probe in the case, and if it has done so, then tell the court the reasons for it.

While Dabholkar was killed in August 2013, Pansare was shot dead on February 16, 2015, in Kolhapur. CBI and CID have been submitting periodical progress reports to High Court.

The CBI had earlier said it was probing the role of right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha in the Dabholkar case. “We are not impressed by these reports. The agencies ought to be careful and sensitive as murder case probes need to be initiated and concluded bearing in mind that it is a crime against the society," the court said.

 Right-wing Hindu activist Samir Gaikwad, held in connection with the murder of veteran Communist leader and rationalist Govind Pansare, on Thursday urged the Bombay high court to grant him bail, saying that there was no evidence to link him with the crime. 

Gaikwad’s bail application came up before Justice CV Bhadang, who adjourned the matter to July 11 with the mutual consent of the accused and the prosecution. Gaikwad, a member of right-wing group ‘Sanatan Sanstha’, contended in the petition that there was no evidence to connect him with Pansare’s murder. He sought bail on the ground that his liberty was being encroached upon in the absence of evidence.