MUMBAI: One of the four country-made pistols suspected to have been used in the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh was recovered from Kharegaon creek in Thane on Monday. It has been sent for forensic and ballistic examination.

The hunt by a UAE-based company on behalf of the CBI will continue for the three other weapons. The CBI, which is probing Dabholkar’s murder , has mentioned in a supplementary chargesheet that Sharad Kalaskar, accused in both killings, confessed to throwing four country-made pistols from a bridge on the Thane-Nashik highway into the creek.

CBI officials said they had engaged UAE-based firm Envitech Middle East FZE last October to search for the weapons using advanced instruments at the cost of Rs 7.5 crore, which will be contributed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Now, the rusted gun (see box) has been sent for tests. Ballistic experts said the gun will have to be cleaned so that experts can fire bullets from it. They will compare the markings on the spent shells to those on the bullet shells found near the victims to find out if both were fired from the same firearm.

In its supplementary chargesheet filed last November against Mumbai lawyer Sanjiv Punalekar , now out on bail, and his assistant Vikram Bhave, the CBI mentioned that Envitech was pressed into service from October 19, 2019. The search operation is being done in coordination with the SIT in Karnataka that is investigating the Lankesh case and the SIT in Maharashtra probing the murder of activist Govind Pansare . It pointed out that Kalaskar had confessed to the Karnataka SIT that he had thrown the weapons into the Kharegaon creek.

CBI says their investigation revealed that Kalaskar had visited Punalekar’s chamber in June 2018 at Nariman Street in Mumbai, where Bhave was also present. Punalekar discussed Kalaskar’s role in Dabholkar’s murder, and advised him to destroy the firearms used in the murder cases, including that of Lankesh. On July 23, 2018, Kalaskar threw four country-made pistols’ from a bridge over the Kharegaon Creek on the Thane-Nashik Highway while on the way to Nalasopara from Pune. He was arrested soon after.

Kalaskar and his associate Sachin Andure are accused of killing anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar in 2013. Andure confessed to the CBI that he had fired at Dabholkar’s chest and Kalaskar shot at his head twice while he was out for morning walk in Pune. Virendrasinh Tawde, an ENT surgeon from Panvel, is in custody as the main conspirator.

