Dedicated police units will reduce ideological violence: Ex-CID chief

Pune: Against the backdrop of killings of rationalists like Dr Narendra Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Gauri Lankesh, former Crime Investigation Department (CID) chief Ashok Dhiware stressed on the need for police officials to form a preventive unit to curb such murders.

“We must understand the motive in all these murders. They are motivated by ideology. People who do not accept such people’s thoughts go ahead and kill them. The police should focus on preventing such murders,” Dhiware said. 

Dabholkar was shot dead near his home in Shaniwar Peth in 2013, Pansare died of gun shot wounds after being shot in 2015, Kalburgi was killed by a hail of bullets in Dharwad in 2015 and Gauri Lankesh was killed at her home in Bengaluru in September this year. 

Dhiware said that the murders continued to take place as assailants were roaming free. “As we are aware, in Dabholkar case, it took over 45 minutes to identify his body and so it is important that the police are aware about people who can become potential targets of assailants,” added Dhiware. 

The former CID chief also said that the government should be positive about cracking these murder cases. “It cannot happen that there are no witnesses in the Dabholkar murder case. People are unwilling to be part of the criminal justice system. They should come forward and help police agencies,” added Dhiware.

Avinash Patil of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti said that the court is doing its work but investigation in such murder cases depends on the attitude of the government and hence, the government’s support to investigating agencies is essential for achieving results.