Dabholkar murder: Two arrested in Goa

Pune Crime Branch has taken into custody two persons from Goa for questioning in connection with the murder of noted rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.

The duo, hiding at a feast venue at Old Goa near here, was detained on 3 December, Goa deputy inspector general of police OP Mishra said on Saturday.

The detention was made at a village housing cluster of churches, where the annual feast of St Francis Xavier is going on. The duo was picked up from a stall, Mishra said.

Both were taken immediately to Pune, where the 68-year old anti-superstition activist was gunned down by unidentified assailants on 20 August.

Pune police have failed to achieve a breakthrough in the case so far and Dabholkar’s family is pushing for a CBI inquiry.

Earlier it was suspected that right-wing outfits were behind the murder of Dabholkar, who waged a relentless campaign for enactment of a strong anti-superstition and black magic law in Maharashtra.