Seven years since he was shot dead by motorcycle-borne assailants, the kin of slain rationalist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar have said that it was “extremely distressing” that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had failed to nab the masterminds behind the crime.

They said that the agency had not made any significant headway despite nabbing fringe right-wing Hindutva activists Dr. Virendra Tawde in 2016, and Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar — named by the agency to be the two shooters — in 2018.

“The CBI also arrested right-wing Hindutva lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and his associate Vikram Bhave in May 2019. Since then, there has been no progress in the investigation. While charge sheets have been filed against Tawde, Andure and Kalaskar, the agency has yet to untangle the conspiracy threads linking Dr. Dabholkar’s murder with that of comrade Govind Pansare, scholar M.M. Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh,” said Mukta Dabholkar, the late rationalist’s daughter.

She said that the Maharashtra Police investigated her father’s murder for the first nine months, after which the case was transferred to the CBI, which had then been probing it for nearly six-and-a-half years.

‘Three similar murders’

“It is unfortunate that even after seven years, this crime remains unsolved, especially given that three eerily similar murders of thinkers and a journalist have been committed since Dr. Dabholkar’s killing,” said Dr. Hamid Dabholkar, the rationalist’s son.

Pointing to the similarity in the killings of all four rationalist-thinkers, Hamid Dabholkar said a report from a forensic laboratory in Bengaluru had suggested that both Dr. Dabholkar and Pansare had been killed using the same murder weapon.

“Charge sheets are yet to be filed against suspects such as Amol Kale, Amit Degwekar and Rajesh Bangera [prime accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder]… unless the masterminds behind these four killings are nabbed, the lives of all progressives in the country — be they thinkers, writers, journalists — are in danger to falling prey to purveyors and practitioners of extremist thought,” said Dr. Hamid Dabholkar.

Motorcycle-borne assailants had killed Dr. Dabholkar on August 20, 2013, with a 7.65-mm country-made pistol when he was taking his morning stroll on Omkareshwar Bridge in Pune.

Pansare, and his wife Uma, were similarly shot at close range from two 7.65-mm country-made weapons. The same modus operandi was used in the murder of scholar-rationalist Kalburgi, who was murdered by two unidentified assailants outside his home in Dharwad in Kanataka, as well as senior journalist Lankesh, who was shot dead outside her Bengaluru residence in 2017.

On the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the killing, writer and Swaraj Abhiyan founder Yogendra Yadav delivered the second Dr. Narendra Dabholkar Memorial Lecture. Last year, eminent journalist N. Ram, former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, delivered the first lecture titled ‘Three challenges facing contemporary India’.

‘Passed tough test’

“The ultimate test of upholding one’s principles and ideals is whether one is willing to sacrifice their lives for it. All four — Dr. Dabholkar, comrade Pansare, prof. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh — have passed this tough test by consistently exhibiting great courage in fearlessly speaking the truth,” said Mr. Yadav, in his online lecture.

He said he particularly had great respect for Dr. Dabholkar as the late rationalist had chosen to take his ideas to the common man by expressing them in Marathi rather than in English.

Meanwhile, members of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) — the outfit founded by Dr. Dabholkar — staged a ‘Jawab Do’ (give answers) protest over the delay in justice in Dr. Dabholkar’s case on Omkareshwar Bridge.

“We will be keeping up this tradition of enlightened protest until justice is done. This year, owing to COVID-19, we held our protest by strictly adhering to physical distancing rules,” said Nandini Jadhav of the MANS.