Bombay High Court unhappy with delay in rationalist Narendra Dabholkar's murder probe

With no breakthrough yet in the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar two years ago, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday expressed concern over the delay in the probe, noting close monitoring of investigation was required.

A division bench of Justices R V More and R G Ketkar directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to file a status report in a week on the probe done by it so far. "This is a serious issue. Close monitoring is required now," the court said.

The activist was shot dead in Pune in August 2013 by two motorcycle-borne youths. The case was handed over to the CBI in 2014 after Dabholkar's family petitioned the High Court claiming lackadaisical investigation by the state police.

The court was informed by advocate Abhay Nevagi, who appeared for the Dabholkar family, that on the second death anniversary of the rationalist this year, the state government appointed seven officers to assist CBI. But there was a lack of coordination between the officers and the CBI as they were working from different locations like Nagpur and Yavatmal.

The court termed it as 'unfortunate' and asked the government to state in a week why officers were not appointed from Pune itself.