A month on, police clueless about Dabholkar's killers

Pune, Sep 21: Even as police claim that probe into the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was on the "right track", no concrete clue to the August 20 broad daylight slaying seems to have emerged a month after the incident that jolted the progressive social movement in Maharashtra.

Protest marches and dharnas marked the public ire throughout the State in the last few says as activists and supporters of Dabholkar gave vent to their anger and disappointment over the pace of investigation which has practically drawn a blank even after a month. Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajendera Bhamre, Investigating Officer of the murder that stirred the conscience of the nation, said his teams were in the process of getting essential clues and probe was on the "right track".

"A huge amount of information and data in the case has been collected by police who are now in the process of getting essential clues from the inputs collected from 19 special squads drafted to crack the case."

He, however, remained elusive about the motive behind the murder supposedly committed by two motorcycle-borne assailants who apparently shadowed the anti-superstition crusader and shot him dead from close range on a city bridge when he was taking a morning walk.

A London lab is processing the blurred CCTV footage to decipher the images of the killer duo supposedly captured by the cameras installed in a building in the vicinity after police technicians here failed to get anything concrete from their examination of the video clip. The report from abroad was awaited, police said.

PTI