Right-Wing Activist Accused in Govind Pansare Murder Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances
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A 43-year-old right-wing activist, Sameer Gaikwad, who was accused of being a co-conspirator in the 2015 murder of rationalist Govind Pansare, has died in Maharashtra's Sangli district. Gaikwad, a member of the Sanatan Sanstha, was arrested in 2015 and granted bail in 2017. He was rushed to a hospital early on Tuesday, where doctors declared him dead on arrival, citing prima facie evidence of cardiac arrest. However, the police are waiting for the postmortem report to confirm the exact cause of death. Govind Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015, in Kolhapur, and succumbed to his injuries a few days later. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the case and arrested Gaikwad in September 2015. The SIT had mentioned Gaikwad as a co-conspirator and alleged that he, along with other Sanatan Sanstha activists, was involved in the murder. Pansare's family had sought the case's transfer to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) due to the lack of progress in tracing the shooters. The High Court transferred the probe to the ATS in 2022, observing that there was no headway in the case. Of the 12 accused identified, nine have been arrested, and four supplementary chargesheets have been filed. The police are investigating Gaikwad's death, but initial reports suggest that there is nothing suspicious.
