Dabholkar murder case: CBI seeks custody of 3 accused

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday sought custody of three accused arrested by Karnataka's Special Investigation Team (SIT) as part of investigation in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case.

Earlier, the CBI had claimed that murders of Bengaluru-based journalist-cum-activist Gauri Lankesh and Dabholkar were linked after the investigative agency recovered the pistol used for killing Lankesh while investigating the Dabholkar murder case.

The pistol was recovered from Shubham Surale, the brother-in-law of Sachin Andure, an accused in the Dabholkar murder case, who was arrested from Aurangabad by the CBI on August 18.

During the hearing, it was stated that Sharad Kalaskar, who was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in explosives recovery case from Nalasopara, will be handed over to the CBI after August 28 at the end of his custody, on grounds of the need for a joint interrogation of Kalaskar and Andure.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Sessions Court has posted a CBI application seeking custody of Sharad Kalaskar for tomorrow.

Dabholkar, who was the founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), was shot dead on August 20, 2013, by bike-borne assailants while returning home from a morning walk, while Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her Bengaluru residence on September 5 last year.