Sanatan Sanstha member Sameer Gaikwad, a key accused in the 2015 murder of veteran activist and Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Govind Pansare, died of suspected cardiac arrest in Maharashtra’s Sangli district on Tuesday morning, police said. Gaikwad, 43, had been out on bail in the case since 2017.
Pansare, 81, was shot by two unidentified assailants not far from his house in Sagar Mal, Kolhapur, on the morning of February 16, 2015, while returning home from his morning walk with his wife, Uma. Pansare received three gunshot wounds and Uma received an external wound from two bullets to the head, which caused a skull fracture. While Pansare was transferred to Breach Candy Hospital in Bombayhe passed away on February 20, 2015. Uma was discharged a few weeks later.
“Gaikwad died on Tuesday morning due to suspected cardiac arrest. He was out on bail since 2017 and had filed a discharge application in the court, which was pending,” a senior police officer said.
The case was initially investigated by the Rajarampuri police station in Kolhapur and was later transferred to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the supervision of the additional director general of the Maharashtra CID.
During the course of investigation the names of 12 accused were revealed and the SIT arrested 10 of them. Besides Gaikwad, the other accused arrested were Virendrasinh Tawade, Amol Kale, Vasudev Suryavanshi, Bharat Kurne, Amit Degwekar, Sharad Kalaskar, Sachin Andure, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin. The accused Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar alias Kulkarni are still absconding. All the accused are allegedly linked with Sanatan Sanstha.
In December 2015, the first charge sheet in the case was filed. Four additional indictments were subsequently filed against nine other defendants. In January 2023, a Kolhapur court framed charges against 10 accused, marking the start of the trial. All 10 defendants have pleaded not guilty in the case.