RTI activist Satish Shetty. (File Photo)
IN yet another twist in RTI activist Satish Shetty’s murder case, the CBI has filed a “final report” in court, saying no “prosecutable evidence” was found against four of the six accused, including IRB CMD Virendra Mhaiskar. The agency, however, said the trial against the remaining two accused, both former police officials, will continue.
Sources said the report was filed in the CBI special court in Pune, through a CBI counsel, on Monday. While CBI officials initially remained tight-lipped about the report, Mhaiskar, in a letter to investors on the website of the Bombay Stock Exchange, said on Wednesday that the company had received a ‘closure report’ filed by the CBI.
“We are now in receipt of the closure report filed by CBI, with regard to further investigation in the murder case. The report once again clearly exonerates us and the company of any involvement whatsoever, in this sad and heinous crime of murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty. As a result, our stand on the matter, about having no involvement whatsoever in this regard from day one, stands vindicated as this long-drawn investigation comes to an end,” stated Mhaiskar’s open letter to investors.
“The learning from this experience can be explained in one line — activism is an essential ingredient of democracy, but that should not be used to terrorise the lives of innocent people,” it said.
CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal confirmed the development. “The final report in the Satish Shetty murder case has been submitted on Monday. While the proceedings will continue against two chargesheeted persons, the probe has found no prosecutable evidence against the others,” he said.
The agency had arraigned six persons as accused, including Mhaiskar, IRB liaison officer Jayant Dangre, then IRB lawyer Ajit Balwant Kulkarni, Inspector Bhausaheb Andhalkar and Assistant Inspector Namdev Kauthale of Pune Rural Police’s Local Crime Branch and Dilip Arjunrao Shinde, then deputy superintendent of police, Lonavala. While Andhalkar and Kauthale have been chargesheeted, they are currently out on bail and the trial is on.
Shetty’s brother Sandeep, who has been fighting the case, said he would continue his fight. “I have maintained that the CBI has been overtly working in the direction of safeguarding the powerful accused in the case. This development proves it. The fact that they have done it so secretly and have not even informed me, the complainant, clearly shows the CBI’s intentions. I will continue to fight for justice,” he said.