26, Oct 2015

• 26 Oct 2015
• Hindustan Times (Mumbai)
THE ONLY DEVELOPMENT IS THAT AN 11-YEAR-OLD WITNESS HAS IDENTIFIED SAMEER GAIKWAD AS ONE OF THOSE WHO SHOT AT PANSARE OUTSIDE HIS HOME IN KOLHAPUR ON FEBRUARY 16 THIS YEAR.
Eight months after rationalist and leftist Govind Pansare was murdered, t he police i nvestigation is going nowhere. It has been five weeks since the police arrested Sameer Gaikwad, a 32-year-old member of the Sanatan Sanstha, but there has been no further progress.
The only development is that an 11-year-old witness has identified Gaikwad as one of those who shot at Pansare outside his home in Kolhapur on February 16 this year. However, there are doubts whether this will strengthen the case against Gaikwad.
Pansare supporters now fear the investigation will hit a dead-end just like that into the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in August 2013. “Either he [Gaikwad] is a hardened criminal or he really doesn’t know anything about the murder. So far he has not given us any lead,” said a senior police officer, who is also a member of the Special Investigation Team formed by the government in April to probe the case.