Kalburgi murder: CID to get Virendra Tawde's custody soon

Bengaluru: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sleuths probing the murder of renowned rationalist Dr M.M. Kalburgi are preparing to take Virendra Tawde, who was arrested by the CBI in connection with the murder case of Narendra Dabholkar, to their custody soon.

As there are striking similarities in the murder cases, the CID has decided to take Tawde, a member of Sanatan Sanstha, into custody once his CBI custody ends on June 20. An official told Deccan Chronicle that the team was ready with necessary documents to get Tawde’s custody. “His CBI custody ends on June 20. Once he is remanded to judicial custody, we will get his under-trial prisoner number (UTP). Along with it, we will procure body warrant from the local court and then produce both in the CBI Special Court seeking his custody in Dr Kalburgi’s murder case,” the official said.

The CID has already exchanged information with the CBI regarding the murder cases of Kalburgi and Dabholkar. “Details of investigation of both these cases have already been exchanged by both the agencies. Interestingly, Karnataka link to Dabholkar’s murder is also emerging as Tawde has revealed to the CBI officials that he had a few contacts in the state as well. Though there is no concrete information about his involvement in Kalburgi’s murder case, there are striking similarities in the modus operandi of both these murder cases. Also, the role of Sanatan Sanstha members is strongly suspected in Kalburgi’s murder case. So, we are hopeful that Tawde’s interrogation would give us some leads in the case, though he would not be directly involved in the case,” the official added.

Tawde, reportedly a qualified ENT surgeon, was arrested by the CBI near Mumbai in connection with the murder case of Dabholkar on June 10. The 67-year-old anti-superstition crusader was shot dead by two unidentified men in Pune in 2013.