Crusader against black magic shot by fanatics

Pune citizen and rationalist Narendra Dabholkar is shot dead while on a morning stroll

Maharashtra's image as a liberal and progressive state received a major jolt on Tuesday when social activist and rationalist, Dr Narendra Dabholkar, was shot dead in Pune by unknown assailants while on his morning walk.

Dabholkar was in the forefront of a campaign and legislation against superstition and black magic. Successive governments have been sitting on the bill for 17 years.

Hailing from Satara, Dabholkar studied medicine from Miraj Medical College and practiced medicine for about a decade, before taking up social work. He was also the editor of 'Sadhna', a weekly magazine launched by the late Sane Guruji, a renowned social worker.

Dabholkar was taking a stroll when two motorcycleborne men pumped four bullets into him on the Omkareshwar bridge at 7.30 am. Two bullets were aimed at his head.

Fanatic Hindu groups and supporters of Jaat-Panchayat

(the equivalent of a 'khaap panchayat' for community issues in Haryana) were being viewed as suspects. "The assailants, aged between 30 and 35 years, had parked the vehicle nearby and lay in wait for Dabholkar. After shooting him they sped off. We are scanning CCTV footage of all the roads in the vicinity to trace them," additional commissioner Sanjeev Singhal said. The police have also released a sketch of one of the assailants. The killing led to outrage across the state. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan announced a reward of Rs.10 lakh for information leading to the assailants. Dabholkar's daylight murder has been strongly condemned by all political parties, which have called for a Pune bandh on Wednesday. Home Minister R.R. Patil vowed that the killers would be nabbed at the earliest. Observers remember that he had said the same thing when RTI activist Satish Shetty was stabbed to death near Pune some years ago. He too was on his morning walk. The real killers of Shetty are yet to be identified. The CBI now wants to reopen and re-investigate an alleged land scam case, which Shetty had filed against 13 people, including the CMD of an infrastructure major and a sub-registrar, in October 2009. Singhal said that the police was still clueless about the motive behind Dabholkar's murder. He said they would examine the CCTV footage recorded at the shops and establishments in the vicinity. Dabholkar's funeral took place in the evening at Satara. Chavan attended the funeral, where tempers ran high and slogans were raised denouncing the government. Thousands of people gathered at Dabholkar's Pune residence to pay their last respects to him before his body was taken for the last rites. Only the previous night the rationalist had participated in a TV show.