Former Maharashtra inspector held for activist's murder

The CBI on Wednesday arrested a former inspector of Maharashtra Police Crime Branch in its ongoing probe into the murder of Pune-based RTI activist Satish Shetty.

A team from the special crimes unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested B.R. Andhalkar from Pune for conspiring with some people in manipulating evidence to shield the real killers.

"Andhalkar was called for questioning in the Pune-based CBI office where he was arrested after brief questioning. During investigation, it emerged that he conspired with others, fabricated and manipulated evidence to shield the real conspirators and killers," said a CBI official.

The CBI took over the investigation on the request of the Maharashtra government after police failed to crack the murder case registered in Pune on January 13, 2010.

Andhalkar will be produced before a designated court at Pune on Thursday.

In February last year, the CBI had relaunched the probe into the murder, months after it had filed a closure report after stating that it found no "prosecutable evidence".

Shetty, while on a morning walk, was stabbed to death on January 13, 2010, not far from his Panchvati Colony home.

Shetty was the Pune district coordinator of the Bhrastachar Virodhi Dakshata Samiti, an organisation fighting corruption.

Shetty had exposed an alleged land scam along the Pune-Mumbai highway, one of several cases of corruption he had exposed through RTI applications.

Based on Shetty's findings and complaint, a criminal offence in the land scam was lodged with police against the chairman and managing director of IRB Infrastructure Co, Virendra Mhaiskar, and 12 others, including some government officials on October 15, 2009.