By PTI
PUNE: The defence on Friday began the cross-examination of Sanjay Sadvilkar, a former Hindutva activist and a key prosecution witness, in the Narendra Dabholkar murder trial.
Earlier, on June 18, Sadvilkar was examined by prosecution lawyer advocate Prakash Suryawanshi in the court of Additional Sessions Judge S R Navandar.
Advocate Prakash Salsingikar, one of the defence lawyers who crossed examined Sadvilkar, said the latter had given 2004 and 2006 as the year a verbal spat allegedly took place between Dabholkar and one of the prime accused Virendrasinh Tawde on Sant Gadge Maharaj Jayanti.
Salsingikar said Sadvilkar, in his cross-examination, had claimed the altercation took place in 2006, while he had mentioned 2004 in his statement to Kolhapur police in connection with the murder of Govind Pansare.
Sadvilkar is one of the witnesses in the murder of Pansare, who died of gun shot wounds on February 20, 2015.
“In a statement to the CBI in the Dabholkar case, Sadvilkar claimed the event took place in 2006,” Salsingikar said.
When Sadvilkar was asked if the year given by him in the statement to the Kolhapur police was wrong, he answered yes, Salsingikar said, adding that the cross-examination would continue.
As per the prosecution examination that took place on June 18, prime accused Tawde had asked Sadvilkar to arrange for bullets, which went by the code ‘chocolates’, as well as make a pistol replica.
Dabholkar, a renowned anti-superstition activist, was shot dead on August 20, 2013, when he was on a morning walk on the Onkareshwar Bridge in Pune.
In June 2014, the CBI took over the Dabholkar murder probe following an order by the Bombay High Court.
Based on a witness statement made by Sadvilkar, the CBI had arrested Tawde, an ENT surgeon, in June 2016.
Besides Tawde, alleged shooters Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar were also arrested.
