Pansare murder: Charge sheet filed against right-wing activist

Kolhapur: The Maharashtra Police filed a nearly 400-page charge sheet against right-wing activist Samir Gaikwad, one of the prime accused in the Govind Pansare murder case in a court here on Monday.

Gaikwad, an activist of Sanata Sanstha, was arrested on September 16 from Sangli and is currently under judicial custody till December 18.

Later, four others including a woman were also arrested from different parts of the state in connection with the murder.

The charge sheet, lodged before magistrate RD Dange has attached a list of 77 witnesses, and other evidences and documents pertaining to the murder case.

Pansare, a senior Communist Party of India leader and leader of the anti-toll agitation here, and his wife Uma were shot at close range by two unidentified assailants who came on a motorcycle earlier this year.

Pansare later succumbed to the bullet injuries on February 20 in a Mumbai hospital while Uma survived.

In August 2013, prominent rationalist and anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead while on a morning walk near his home in Pune, and in August 2015, rationalist and Kannada litterateur MM Kalburgi was shot dead near his house in Dharwad district of northern Karnataka, leading to fears of a conspiracy behind the killings.