Dabholkar murder case: 3 suspects remanded to 2-day police custody

Mumbai: The three persons, arrested in connection with the murder of Maharashtra rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, were remanded to two-day police custody on Wednesday.

Ajinkya Surle (19), Shubham Surle (20) and Rohit Rege (23) were presented in front of a magistrate's court in Maharashtra's Aurangabad.

Aurangabad police on Wednesday had registered a case for illegal possession of weapons against the three under the Arms Act. "We will question them from where they got these weapons and what was the motive for acquiring them," an official said.

Last week, the CBI arrested Aurangabad-based Sachin Andure, one of the two alleged gunmen who shot Dabholkar.

On Tuesday, the CBI conducted searches at the premises of Andure's brothers-in-law Ajinkya and Shubham Surle, and his friend Rohit Rege, and recovered a 7.65 mm pistol, three live cartridges, a sword and a chopper. The agency questioned them, and later filed a complaint about recovery of weapons with local police.

Dabholkar, the founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), was shot dead on August 20, 2013, by bike-borne assailants while returning home from a morning walk. The CBI had also arrested former Shiv Sena corporator Shrikant Pangarkar in connection with the killing of Dabholkar.

With agency inputs