Two more persons arrested in Govind Pansare murder case
Pune, Dec 1: The special investigation team of Maharashtra police which is investigating the murder of rationalist Govind Pansare arrested two persons in the case Saturday.
One of them, Vasudev Suryavanshi (29), had been arrested earlier in Nalasopara explosives seizure case this year, while another, Bharat Kurne (37), had been arrested by Karnataka police in connection with the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh.
Both were produced before a court in Kolhapur which remanded them in police custody for seven days.
The prosecution told the court that Suryavanshi had arranged the two-wheeler used by the assailants who shot Pansare, while Kurne handed over a used weapon to them.
The SIT had earlier arrested Sameer Gaikwad, Virendra Tawde and Amol Kale in the Pansare murder case.
While Tawde was first arrested by the CBI in the rationalist Narendra Dabholkar murder, Kale was first arrested in the Lankesh murder case.
The CBI had told a Pune court recently that the murders of Dabholkar, Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Lankesh were interconnected.
While anti-superstition activist Dabholkar was shot dead in Pune in August 2013, Pansare, a rationalist and leader of the Communist Party of India, was killed in Kolhapur in western Maharashtra in February 2015.
Kannada scholar and writer M M Kalburgi was killed in Dharwad in August 2015, while Lankesh was killed in Bengaluru in September 2017.
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Bengaluru: Four arrested for housebreaking, threats, extortion; fake PSI among accused
Bengaluru: Vidyaranyapura police have arrested four persons, including a man posing as a Police Sub-Inspector (PSI), for allegedly breaking into a house, threatening the occupants, and extorting money while wearing police uniforms.
The arrested accused have been identified as Mallikarjuna, Pramod, Vinay, and Hrithik.
Police said the accused had hatched a plan to pose as police personnel, conduct fake raids, and extort money from residents by intimidation.
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According to the police, Mallikarjuna had failed the PSI examination twice and later falsely projected himself as a PSI. He allegedly conducted photo shoots in his hometown, Siraguppa, wearing a police uniform, baton, cap, and shoes, claiming to be serving as a PSI in Bengaluru.
On December 7, the four accused allegedly went to the house of Naveen in the Vidyaranyapura limits, threatened him with a stick and an iron rod, and claimed they had information that he was selling ganja. Under the pretext of searching, they allegedly extorted ₹87,000 through bank transfer, ₹53,000 in cash kept in the house, and ₹2,000 from his wallet.
Following Naveen’s complaint, Vidyaranyapura police registered a case and launched an operation, leading to the arrest of all four accused. Police have seized ₹45,000 in cash and the car used to commit the crime.
Further investigation is underway.
