Sharad Kalaskar, the man who allegedly shot and killed Pune based anti-superstition activist Prof Narendra Dabholkar, has been brought by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Bengaluru for questioning in the Gauri Lankesh murder probe, as per a report by Bala Chauhan in the Deccan Chronicle.
25-year-old Kalaskar was produced on a body warrant by the SIT in the principal sessions court in Bengaluru. He has been sent to 20 days’ police custody under provisions of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, 2000.
As per sources, Kalaskar knows vital information pertaining to the missing country-made 7.65 mm pistol that was used to shoot Gauri.
A probe had revealed that Kalaskar had played a major role in the handling of guns used in the Gauri killing and was named as accused number 16 in the case by the SIT on September 12, as per a report by Johnson TA in the Indian Express.
Last month, he was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the Nalasopara arms haul case, along with Vaibhav Raut, Sudhanva Gondhalekar and Shrikant Pangarkar.
As per the SIT’s probe, it has come to light that two guns that were brought to Bengaluru to commit the murder were given to Kalaskar after the murder, by a Satara businessman called Sudhanva Gondhalekar. Gondhalekar had picked up the guns from a hideout where the execution of the murder was being monitored.
Kalaskar works as a lathe machine operator and is believed to have been involved in manufacturing guns following the Gauri murder at a lathe facility in Belagavi, Karnataka. According to sources, Kalaskar was asked in late 2017 to devise guns for a clandestine group by Amol Kale, who is a former convenor of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) in Pune and a key accused in the Dabholkar and Gauri murders.