The Indian Express: Pune: Monday, 04 September 2023.
Around 7 am on January 13, 2010, RTI activist Satish Shetty, 40, was brutally murdered with a sharp weapon not far from his home in Talegaon Dabhade town under Pune district. The period of more than 13 years since can be summarised into ‘a story of three closures’: It is the story of two closure reports filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that took over the probe in September 2010 and closed the case in August 2014 and reopened it in February 2015 to eventually close it again in April 2018. The third is the closure that the deceased’s family members are seeking with his younger brother Sandeep Shetty continuing to fight a long battle for justice.
In the latest development that brings hope in this fight for justice, the Supreme Court last week directed that notices be issued to the Centre and the CBI, while hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by Sandeep Shetty. The younger brother is challenging the Bombay High Court’s judgment that upheld a Pune court’s decision to accept the April 2018 closure report of the CBI.
Here is a look at the investigation of the sensational murder and the twists and turns in it.
The murder after land scam FIR
Satish Shetty was a well-known RTI activist from Pune’s Talegaon Dabhade. Based on documents obtained under RTI, he had lodged a complaint of cheating and forgery at the Lonavala city police station on October 15, 2009, against over a dozen people including the chairman and managing director of an infrastructure major and others including the then sub-registrar of land records, alleging illegal purchase of a large tract of land in two villages in Maval taluka of Pune district for a township project by the company.
Satish Shetty had started receiving death threats and on November 24, 2009, he filed an application with the Pune rural police seeking protection. However, on January 13, 2010, he was murdered with a sharp weapon. An offence of murder was lodged in this case at the Talegaon Dabhade police station.
Family claims false arrests by Pune rural police
The Local Crime Branch (LCB) of the Pune rural police initiated a probe into the murder and arrested six people including advocate Vijay Dabhade in Talegaon. The arrests were made following a statement by history-sheeter Santosh Shinde. The Pune rural police claimed that Shinde confessed to having accepted a contract to kill Satish Shetty from Dabhade, but he refused to do so after knowing that Satish Shetty was working for the benefit of common citizens.
The rural police also pointed to past disputes between Satish Shetty and Dabhade. Satish Shetty’s family, however, said these were false arrests and that the past disputes between him and Dabhade were settled.
In March 2010, Sandeep Shetty had filed an affidavit with the Bombay High Court stating that the police had failed to pursue those named by his brother Satish Shetty in his application seeking police protection. The CBI took over the investigation into Satish Shetty’s murder in September 2010. Meanwhile, in September 2011, the Pune rural police filed a closure report – also known as the C summary report – in the land scam case that Satish Shetty had filed. And, a few months later, in 2012, the infrastructure company scrapped its township project on this disputed land.
CBI closes, then opens, then again closes the probe
During the investigation, the CBI arraigned six people as accused and investigated their role in the Satish Shetty murder case. They included the CMD of the infra company, its liaison manager, a lawyer working for the company, and three police officers of the Pune rural police on the charges of manipulating and fabricating the evidence to shield the real conspirators.
The CBI moved the Bombay High Court on August 8, 2014, seeking permission to re-open the land scam case, saying that it may be linked to the murder. But in a shocking turnaround, just three days after seeking permission to reopen the land scam probe, the CBI filed a closure report in the murder case itself on August 11, 2014, citing a dozen difficulties to prima facie prove the charges against the accused people.
In this closure report, the CBI stated that Satish Shetty was offered a bribe of Rs two crore by a liaison manager of the infrastructure company for not pursuing the land scam case. And on his refusal, he was allegedly given death threats. Satish Shetty had then requested the superintendent of police, Pune rural, to provide police protection to him and his family. The police recorded Satish Shetty’s statement in this regard on December 25, 2009. But no police protection was given to him, the CBI closure report said. On January 12, 2010, a police officer and an assistant inspector had written to the Pune rural SP recommending protection for Satish Shetty. But this letter reached the SP office on January 16, three days after the murder, the CBI investigation had suggested, as mentioned in the closure report.
In the closure report, the CBI further stated it found no evidence against the CMD of the company or any other suspects. “The available evidence is mostly circumstantial but there are missing links in the chain of evidence. The motive behind the murder was also not established beyond a reasonable doubt,” the closure report had said.
While the murder probe was closed, the CBI continued to investigate the land scam case and conducted searches at 21 places in Pune and Mumbai in January 2015, which led to the seizure of ‘incriminating material’ the agency had stated at the time. In February 2015, the CBI re-opened the murder case, claiming it got ‘prosecutable evidence’ during these raids. In April 2016, the CBI arrested two Pune rural police officers for allegedly conspiring with other accused for ‘fabricating and manipulating’ evidence to shield the ‘real killers’. The CBI even filed a chargesheet against the two cops who were later released on bail. Meanwhile, in December 2017, the CBI filed a chargesheet against 18 people including the infra company CMD in connection with the 2009 land scam, the investigation of which it had taken over.
In April 2018, the CBI filed a closure report in this case before a court in Pune saying it had found no prosecutable evidence against four other accused in the murder case including the infra company CMD. The Pune court accepted the report. The company and its officials have time and again denied all these allegations, saying these charges are fabricated and that they have been falsely implicated.
Legal battle of Satish Shetty’s brother continues
Subsequent to the second closure in the case, Sandeep Shetty moved the Bombay HC seeking an order directing the CBI to investigate the murder case further. But the high court rejected the petition. The HC stated in its order, “We do not find any justifiable reason to presume that the investigation carried out by the CBI over the period of 8 to 9 years which included investigating role of the suspected accused, is still insufficient especially when the CBI has examined about 500 witnesses and carried out polygraphy test of some of the suspected accused in which nothing incriminating was revealed. During 8 to 9 years of continuous investigation, the CBI has not found any prosecutable evidence against the suspected accused persons.”
Speaking to the Indian Express after the latest Supreme Court order, Sandeep Shetty said, “After the Bombay High Court’s rejection of our application in May 2019, we filed an SLP in the Supreme Court in July 2019. The SLP was pending before the apex court. During the hearing on the SLP recently, the SC bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal directed that notices be issued to the CBI. This will make the CBI answerable for their actions during the investigation of the case which was full of turnarounds and has led to an atmosphere of confusion. This order marks the beginning of a process and is a sign of hope for us in the battle for justice for Satish.”
Around 7 am on January 13, 2010, RTI activist Satish Shetty, 40, was brutally murdered with a sharp weapon not far from his home in Talegaon Dabhade town under Pune district. The period of more than 13 years since can be summarised into ‘a story of three closures’: It is the story of two closure reports filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that took over the probe in September 2010 and closed the case in August 2014 and reopened it in February 2015 to eventually close it again in April 2018. The third is the closure that the deceased’s family members are seeking with his younger brother Sandeep Shetty continuing to fight a long battle for justice.
In the latest development that brings hope in this fight for justice, the Supreme Court last week directed that notices be issued to the Centre and the CBI, while hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by Sandeep Shetty. The younger brother is challenging the Bombay High Court’s judgment that upheld a Pune court’s decision to accept the April 2018 closure report of the CBI.
Here is a look at the investigation of the sensational murder and the twists and turns in it.
The murder after land scam FIR
Satish Shetty was a well-known RTI activist from Pune’s Talegaon Dabhade. Based on documents obtained under RTI, he had lodged a complaint of cheating and forgery at the Lonavala city police station on October 15, 2009, against over a dozen people including the chairman and managing director of an infrastructure major and others including the then sub-registrar of land records, alleging illegal purchase of a large tract of land in two villages in Maval taluka of Pune district for a township project by the company.
Satish Shetty had started receiving death threats and on November 24, 2009, he filed an application with the Pune rural police seeking protection. However, on January 13, 2010, he was murdered with a sharp weapon. An offence of murder was lodged in this case at the Talegaon Dabhade police station.
Family claims false arrests by Pune rural police
The Local Crime Branch (LCB) of the Pune rural police initiated a probe into the murder and arrested six people including advocate Vijay Dabhade in Talegaon. The arrests were made following a statement by history-sheeter Santosh Shinde. The Pune rural police claimed that Shinde confessed to having accepted a contract to kill Satish Shetty from Dabhade, but he refused to do so after knowing that Satish Shetty was working for the benefit of common citizens.
The rural police also pointed to past disputes between Satish Shetty and Dabhade. Satish Shetty’s family, however, said these were false arrests and that the past disputes between him and Dabhade were settled.
In March 2010, Sandeep Shetty had filed an affidavit with the Bombay High Court stating that the police had failed to pursue those named by his brother Satish Shetty in his application seeking police protection. The CBI took over the investigation into Satish Shetty’s murder in September 2010. Meanwhile, in September 2011, the Pune rural police filed a closure report – also known as the C summary report – in the land scam case that Satish Shetty had filed. And, a few months later, in 2012, the infrastructure company scrapped its township project on this disputed land.
CBI closes, then opens, then again closes the probe
During the investigation, the CBI arraigned six people as accused and investigated their role in the Satish Shetty murder case. They included the CMD of the infra company, its liaison manager, a lawyer working for the company, and three police officers of the Pune rural police on the charges of manipulating and fabricating the evidence to shield the real conspirators.
The CBI moved the Bombay High Court on August 8, 2014, seeking permission to re-open the land scam case, saying that it may be linked to the murder. But in a shocking turnaround, just three days after seeking permission to reopen the land scam probe, the CBI filed a closure report in the murder case itself on August 11, 2014, citing a dozen difficulties to prima facie prove the charges against the accused people.
In this closure report, the CBI stated that Satish Shetty was offered a bribe of Rs two crore by a liaison manager of the infrastructure company for not pursuing the land scam case. And on his refusal, he was allegedly given death threats. Satish Shetty had then requested the superintendent of police, Pune rural, to provide police protection to him and his family. The police recorded Satish Shetty’s statement in this regard on December 25, 2009. But no police protection was given to him, the CBI closure report said. On January 12, 2010, a police officer and an assistant inspector had written to the Pune rural SP recommending protection for Satish Shetty. But this letter reached the SP office on January 16, three days after the murder, the CBI investigation had suggested, as mentioned in the closure report.
In the closure report, the CBI further stated it found no evidence against the CMD of the company or any other suspects. “The available evidence is mostly circumstantial but there are missing links in the chain of evidence. The motive behind the murder was also not established beyond a reasonable doubt,” the closure report had said.
While the murder probe was closed, the CBI continued to investigate the land scam case and conducted searches at 21 places in Pune and Mumbai in January 2015, which led to the seizure of ‘incriminating material’ the agency had stated at the time. In February 2015, the CBI re-opened the murder case, claiming it got ‘prosecutable evidence’ during these raids. In April 2016, the CBI arrested two Pune rural police officers for allegedly conspiring with other accused for ‘fabricating and manipulating’ evidence to shield the ‘real killers’. The CBI even filed a chargesheet against the two cops who were later released on bail. Meanwhile, in December 2017, the CBI filed a chargesheet against 18 people including the infra company CMD in connection with the 2009 land scam, the investigation of which it had taken over.
In April 2018, the CBI filed a closure report in this case before a court in Pune saying it had found no prosecutable evidence against four other accused in the murder case including the infra company CMD. The Pune court accepted the report. The company and its officials have time and again denied all these allegations, saying these charges are fabricated and that they have been falsely implicated.
Legal battle of Satish Shetty’s brother continues
Subsequent to the second closure in the case, Sandeep Shetty moved the Bombay HC seeking an order directing the CBI to investigate the murder case further. But the high court rejected the petition. The HC stated in its order, “We do not find any justifiable reason to presume that the investigation carried out by the CBI over the period of 8 to 9 years which included investigating role of the suspected accused, is still insufficient especially when the CBI has examined about 500 witnesses and carried out polygraphy test of some of the suspected accused in which nothing incriminating was revealed. During 8 to 9 years of continuous investigation, the CBI has not found any prosecutable evidence against the suspected accused persons.”
Speaking to the Indian Express after the latest Supreme Court order, Sandeep Shetty said, “After the Bombay High Court’s rejection of our application in May 2019, we filed an SLP in the Supreme Court in July 2019. The SLP was pending before the apex court. During the hearing on the SLP recently, the SC bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal directed that notices be issued to the CBI. This will make the CBI answerable for their actions during the investigation of the case which was full of turnarounds and has led to an atmosphere of confusion. This order marks the beginning of a process and is a sign of hope for us in the battle for justice for Satish.”
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