The Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS) on Wednesday started a social media campaign to demand answers from the government over the lack of progress in the probe into the murder of its founder Dr. Narendra Dabholkar.
The campaign, Jawab Do, will be run on social media platforms till August 20, the fifth death anniversary of Dabholkar. Unknown assailants on bikes shot down Dabholkar on August 20, 2013, in Pune, while he was returning home from a morning walk.
The campaign has been launched on various social media platforms and the MANS has appealed to scores of the activist’s followers to run the campaign on WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using the hashtags #JawabDo and #WhokilledDabholkar.
Vinayak Hogade, member of MANS’s social media cell, said, “The campaign is aimed at reaching out to people across the globe and spread the message that the Dabholkar murder case has not yet been solved and his killers are still roaming around without any fear.”
The State police had handed over investigation into the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Bombay High Court is now monitoring the probe. The High Court has rapped the CBI for failing to deadlines and make any headway in the case despite being issued several warnings.
Mahendra Naik, a member of MANS, said, “This campaign is an attempt to build up pressure on the government and the investigating agencies. We have appealed to our activists to engage as many friends as possible in the campaign.”
After the investigation was transferred to the CBI, Dr. Virendra Tawde, a member of the right-wing Sanatan Sanstha, was arrested and jailed in the case. He was also arrested in connection with the murder of veteran Communist leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur in 2015. Dr. Tawde was later granted bail in the case. The same year, another rationalist, M.M. Kalburgi, was murdered in Karnataka’s Dharwad district.
This year, Karnataka police arrested alleged killers of journalist Gauri Lankesh from Maharashtra. The investigation has revealed that the modus operandi was similar to the Dabholkar murder and the same weapon was used in the attacks.