NIA Team in Kolhapur to probe right wing murderers
BeyondHeadlines Special Correspondent
KOLHAPUR: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Government of Maharashtra to investigate the murder of rationalist Comrade Govind Pansare has widened its scope of investigations following the arrest of full time Sanstha Sanstha volunteer Sameer Gaikwad.
According to SIT chief and Special IG Sanjay Kumar, the investigating agency has now focused its attention on five more persons including close friends and relatives of Gaikwad whom its suspects to have played a role in the gruesome murder. Meanwhile, a team of National Investigating Agency (NIA) reached Kolhapur on Sunday to take an assessment of the entire case.
The SIT has focused its investigations on the five suspects based on the confessions extracted from Gaikwad and some of the suspects hail from Sangli, Mumbai and Karnataka. “We are trying to find out whether the five suspects were aware about the murder and had provided financial backing in carrying out the murder. The mobile phone records of Sameer have been sought by the highest levels of the government and future direction of the investigations will be premised on the basis of those records,” Kumar informed media persons.
Currently, an inquiry of Sameer’s female friend and two others is in progress. The SIT has sent Sameer’s cell phones and SIM cards recovered from his bungalow for forensic investigation. According to the investigators, the SIM card of Sameer Vishnu Gaikwad (32) who was arrested on Wednesday, suggest was active at the murder site of the CPI leader at the time when he was gunned down.
The (SIT) team has recovered 23 mobile phones from Gaikwad’s Sangli and Mumbai homes and found that he was frequently changing the SIM cards. The veteran rationalist was gunned down outside his home in Sagar Mala locality of Kolhapur on Feb 16 and succumbed to his injuries at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on Feb 20.
