Bengaluru, Sep 3: Some similarities in the killing of Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi in Dharwad, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Kolhapur and CPI leader Govind Pansare in Pune have prompted Karnataka and Maharashtra to consider forming a Joint Special Investigation Team to probe the three sensational murders.
Authoritative sources in the Karnataka and Maharashtra police have told Deccan Herald that formal talks in that regard were going on and a final decision was expected soon. A team of Maharashtra police already visited Dharwad and interacted with the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) which is currently investigating the grisly murder.
“We are gathering evidence about the weapons used in the three murders. Empty cases of the bullets shot at the three personalities will be examined to ascertain whether the same type of weapon was used in all the three killings. Once that is ascertained, the line of investigation could be easy,” said a top police officer in Karnataka.
The most important point, the officer went on, is to establish whether Prof Kalburgi was killed for his rationalist views, or the motive was something else. “To do that, studying the modus operandi in the three killings and the weapons used is necessary. We are trying to get the ballistics reports of empty cases of bullets fired at Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi,” the officer said.
While Dabholkar was gunned down in Pune on August 20, 2013, Pansare and his wife Uma were shot at on February 16, 2015, in Kolhapur. Pansare died four days later. The Maharashtra police failed to achieve a breakthrough in Pansare’s murder. The forensic report revealed that five bullets from two revolvers were fired at him. But the weapon used in Dabholkar’s murder was different from those used in the killing of Pansare, the report stated.
The Kolhapur police, the Kolhapur crime branch and the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) investigated Pansare’s murder and the investigation was extended to Maharashtra’s border with Karnataka in the hunt for the killers.
The Hubballi-Dharwad police and the CID also are in touch with the Maharashtra police to look for clues in the killing of Pansare and Dabholkar. Forensic experts are searching every nook and corner of the slain writer’s house in Kalyan Nagar locality of Dharwad as well as the roads leading to it.
Sniffer dogs ran up to the library hall of Siddharameshwar Margadarshi, a study centre located about 300 metres from Kalburgi’s house, before losing up the leads. Based on this, police are questioning students who regularly visit the institute.
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