Dabholkar killing: NCP slams police, home minister

The Nationalist Congress Party Thursday targeted the Pune police for its failure to solve the killing of anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar.

"It is indeed sad that nearly three weeks have passed but the Pune police continue to grope in the dark over Dabholkar's killing," a grim NCP state spokesperson Nawab Malik told media persons.

Significantly, the NCP's R.R. Patil is the state home minister and he has now come under pressure from his own party since the 69-year-old Dabholkar's murder Aug 20. Unidentified killers gunned him down in the heart of Pune, and they remain untraced and on the run since then.

"The progress achieved so far is as good as zero... It is pathetic. Police should have by now got some clues leading to the identity of the killers and their background," Malik said.

Prior to his brutal killing, the medico-turned-rationalist Dabholkar was actively spearheading the anti-superstition movement in Maharashtra.

Since over a decade, through his Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, Dabholkar had been lobbying for the passage of a comprehensive bill against blind faith, black magic, witchcraft and superstitious practices, treading many toes.

That fateful morning, when he was on a stroll near his home, Dabholkar was shot dead at close range by two persons who trailed him on a motorcycle.