BeyondHeadlines Special Correspondent
In what could be described a complete climb down from their earlier allegations made against Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Rakesh Maria, the prime suspect Manish Nagori (24) and Vikas Khandel-wal (23) arrested in Dr. Narendra Dabholkar case on Tuesday retracted their Rs 25 lakh allegation before the magistrate stating that they it was due to an outburst of spontaneous feeling of emotions.
The court of judicial magistrate (first class) A B Shaikh while notifying their new stand claimed that why the duo did not raise the issue immediately before the court at the time of their first appearance. However , the crime branch sleuths led by ACP ( Crime I ) Rajendra Bhamre , who produced duo suspects did not submitted any substantial evi-dence against them during the investigation in the past seven days. The defence also claimed that the authorities did not interrogate the duo but pressurised them to change their statement.
Meanwhile considering the serious nature of the crime and further possibilities the court sent the suspects to police custody till Feb 4.Assistant Public Prosecutor (Addl. PP) Madhav G Poul submitted before the court that the accused were not co-operating with the authorities and derailing investigation. He also submitted that the weapon used in the murder was in the possession of the suspect ; but they were refusing to divulge details as to how the weapon came in their possession after the murder.
Poul said, “The accused are refusing to share any information about the motorcycle used in the crime and the police still need time to recover the same. The accused are habitual and criminals on record of Kolhapur police and they need more time of custodial interrogation by taking them into confidence.” Poul also said that the case has become an issue of national in-terest after the announcement of Padamashree to late Dr Dabholkar.
However defence lawyer B A Aloor claimed that there was no in-vestigation further and theaccused were even not allowed to come out from crime branch custody to discuss their issues with him. He submitted before the court that the crime branch officials were incom-petent and failed to reveal the true motive. There is no scope for further progress in the investigation as the weapon has already been recovered.
“The police cannot interrogate the accused for another offence and even the court has not granted them any such permission. . The ballistic report of the weapon was also related to a different case. The investigation is going on in thin air with the aim of framing my clients . No accused can be kept in the custody after the murder.” alleged Aloor.
“My clients have been threatened to be sued them in different cases , which forced them to change their statement, We have filed an application requesting the court for the copy of ballistic report , we are going to file a revision petition against sending the accused to police custody for no reason.” said Aloor to BeyondHeadlines after the court hearing.
