Key accused Tawde was told to focus on Dabholkar drafted anti-superstition bill CBI ex-officer to court

Pune, Apr 11 (PTI) A retired CBI officer, who headed probe into the 2013 murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, on Tuesday told a special court in Pune that Hindu Janajagruti Samiti functionary Durgesh Samant had asked key accused Virendrasinh Tawde via an email to leave all other work and concentrate on an anti-superstition bill drafted by the late social activist.
The ex-CBI officer, S R Singh, also identified Tawde in the court which is conducting a trial into the nearly 10-year-old case.
Singh, who retired from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a Superintendent of Police recently, was an investigating officer into the Dabholkar murder case. On Tuesday, he deposed before the trial court, where he was examined as a witness by the prosecution.
Dabholkar was shot dead by two people on August 20, 2013, on the Omkareshwar bridge in Pune city when he was on a morning walk.
The court has framed charges against five accused in the case: Tawde, Sharad Kalaskar, Sachin Andure, advocate Sanjeev Punalekar, and Vikram Bhave.
Singh, during his examination by Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Surywanshi, told the court how probe into Dabholkar's murder was conducted by the CBI after the case was transferred to the central agency from the Pune police in 2014.
He said the investigation was initially handled by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) D S Chauhan.
Singh said during the probe, he examined Sanjay Sadvilkar, a key prosecution witness, and based on his statement, the CBI later arrested Tawde, a physician listed as the main conspirator in the case.
Singh said in June 2016, the CBI conducted a search at Tawde's residence at Devad in Panvel in Raigad district of Maharashtra and seized "incriminating documents".
The former CBI officer said as part of the probe he visited the ashram of Sanatan Sanstha at Devad and seized hard disks of computers used by the outfit's members.
"In the presence of witnesses, Tawde was asked to access his email account, and printouts of incriminating emails were taken out and signed by the witnesses. It contained one email from Durgesh Samant, a national spokesperson of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, in which he had directed Tawde to concentrate on an anti-superstition bill (drafted by Dabholkar in late 1990s) and leave other work," Singh said in his deposition.
On being asked by the public prosecutor, Singh identified Tawde, who was sitting in the dock along with two other accused - Andure and Kalaskar.
His deposition of Singh will continue on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the court rejected a plea filed by a defence counsel.
The counsel, in the plea, had sought permission to inspect records kept with the CBI's Special Crime Branch so that accused persons are able to access materials/witness statements and prepare their defence.
The prosecution, in their say, said they have not withheld any document, material or statement.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)