Multiple investigations hint at link between 4 murders

MUMBAI/PUNE/NEW DELHI: Separate investigations into the 2013 murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune and journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru last year, by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Anti Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra police, and a Special Investigation Team of Karnataka police have fed off each other, holding out the possibility the murders of four intellectuals in the past five years in Maharashtra and Karnataka are connected.

The first link between the murders of Dabholkar and Lankesh emerged this August, when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recovered a pistol during raids in Aurangabad and arrested two suspects in the Dabholkar case.

The pistol with which Dabholkar was killed, the investigating agencies suspect, was connected to the Lankesh murder and was once owned by Sachin Prakashrao Andure, accused of murdering the Pune rationalist on August 20, 2013.

“During the interrogation of Andure, it was revealed that one of the arrested in the Gauri Lankesh murder case handed over one 7.65mm country-made pistol and three bullets to Sachin Andure. Sachin Andure passed this country-made pistol and three bullets with magazine on August 11 evening, to his brother-in-law Shubham Surale, in Aurangabad,” CBI told a Pune court.

The agency claimed the pistol was recovered during raids on August 21. The investigators have now sent the pistol for forensic examination.