DURING THE trial of the murder case of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, a witness present during the inquest examination after the death was examined by the prosecution and defence lawyers on Thursday.
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Dr Vasudev Parlikar, a Pune-based psychiatrist, was present as witness for the inquest panchnama conducted at the Sassoon General Hospital after the murder in the morning of August 20, 2013.
As per Section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code, an inquest panchnama is conducted after a person dies as a result of crime or under suspicious circumstances. The panchnama is required to be conducted in presence of witnesses and a report is drawn on the apparent cause of death along with details of injuries and its possible causes.
Special Public Prosecutor in the case Advocate Prakash Suryavanshi said, “During the inquest, the witness was shown the wounds on the body of the deceased and were accordingly noted in the report which was signed by him. Dr Parlikar was examined as witness by both prosecution and defence today, thus concluding his deposition. He was questioned on his relation to Dr Dabholkar, and some other details of the inquest.” Dr Parlikar was the fifth witness to be examined in the trial of murder of Dr Dabholkar.
Dabholkar (67) was shot dead by two persons on a bridge near Omkareshwar temple in Pune city on August 20, 2013. The trial is being conducted by the Special Court of Additional Sessions Judge S R Navandar. The CBI, which took over the investigation from Pune City Police in 2014, has chargesheeted five accused, all of them allegedly linked to Sanatan Sanstha. These are ENT surgeon Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, the two alleged assailants Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, Mumbai-based lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and his aide Vikram Bhave. Of these, Tawade, Andure and Kalaskar are currently in jail while Punalekar and Bhave are out on bail.
On September 15 last year, special UAPA court had framed charges in the against four of the accused — Tawade, Andure, Kalaskar and Bhave — for murder, conspiracy to commit murder along with Section 16 of the UAPA pertaining to terrorist acts and various provisions of the Arms Act for the use of firearms.
The court charged Punalekar for destruction of evidence in the case. All five accused have pleaded not guilty to the charges. The CBI had on October 14 last year submitted before the court a list of 32 witnesses to be examined during the trial.