CBI finds pistol used to kill Dabholkar

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recovered the offending pistol which was allegedly used in the killing of of doctor and social activist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in August 2013.

The agency also claims to have recovered three bullets, a dagger and a sword from Sachin Prakasrao Andure, who the agency has arrested on charges of murdering Dabholkar.

The investigative agency has recovered the aforesaid four items after interrogating the accused. The four pieces of “evidence” will be sent for forensic examination. The agency had arrested Andure, one of the two gunmen who had allegedly killed rationalist Dabholkar.


The tip-off for the arrest came from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Thane, which had arrested three persons in a different case of explosives seizure.

According to available information, one of these three revealed that he and another person (Andure) were directly involved in Dabholkar’s murder which had made national headlines.

The Thane ATS alerted the CBI of the development which summoned Andure and arrested him in Pune.

Dabholkar, a popular rationalist and anti-superstition activist who had founded the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), was killed by two motorcycle-borne assailants near Omkareshwar Temple in Pune.

The case was initially probed by the Deccan Police but it was transferred to the CBI in May 2014 following a furore. The agency had increased the reward money on the killers to Rs 25 lakh from Rs 10 lakh.