Same weapon and motorcycle used to kill Dabholkar and Pansare: CBI

A CBI investigation has revealed that the killers of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare used the same weapon and motorcycle for both murders.

According to CBI sources, the investigation agency found that on 22 January, 2013, Virendra Tawde of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti who was recently arrested for Dabholkar's murder, took his black Honda Splendor motorcycle from Panvel to Pune.

This motorcycle was apparently used by the two killers, Sarang Akolkar and a yet unidentified person, when they murdered Dabholkar on 20 August, 2013, as he stepped outside his Pune home, says The Indian Express.

In December that same year, Tawde took the motorcycle to Kolhapur and handed it over to the killers. Pansare was murdered in February 2015.

However, the CBI has not yet recovered the motorcycle.

"While our probe has indicated that the same bike was used in the two murders, the accused never revealed what happened to the bike after it was used in the Pansare case. We suspect that the wanted accused may have disposed of the bike but we are still trying to recover it," said a senior officer. He added: "With the Kolhapur police now taking Tawde's custody, we hope they probe him at length on this angle."

Ballistic reports on the cartridges in the two cases showed that the same weapon may have been used in the two killings. After the CBI receives the bullet shells recovered from the murder site of Karnataka social activist MM Kalburgi, all three sets of shells will be sent to Scotland Yard for a final opinion.