The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Bombay High Court on Thursday that it has difficulty in accessing a creek into which weapons used for the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar were allegedly thrown.

A Division Bench of Justices S.C. Dharmadhikari and G.S. Patel was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by the Dabholkar and the Govind Pansare families.

The CBI’s special investigation team is investigating the Dabholkar murder while the State Crime Investigation Department is probing the Pansare murder.

After the CBI’s counsel, additional solicitor general Anil Singh, and senior counsel Ashok Mundargi, representing the CID, presented their rudimentary progress reports to the court, Mr. Singh said the agency had approached the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority and the Director of Environment, (to look for the weapons) but since there are mangroves around the creek, the agency is having some difficulty in accessing it.

The court asked, “How can ecology affect the investigation? If a bus goes down the creek, are you going to look for environmental clearances?”

The Bench told Mr. Singh to hold a meeting in his chamber with all the authorities concerned and inform the court on why permissions are not granted, and the Bench will issue summons to the authorities if needed.

The court also said that the advocate general must cooperate to ensure speedy investigation in the case.

The matter will now be heard on August 9.

In the last hearing, Mr. Singh had told the court that a country-wide operation would be carried out within a month to search for the four country-made pistols used to kill Dabholkar. It is believed that the pistols were dismantled and thrown into a creek near Thane.

He had also said that the agency was waiting for confirmations and permissions from some government agencies to commence the operation.