Yogesh Gowda murder case: Ex-police commissioner Pandurang Rane, others examined

Team Udayavani, Jun 4, 2020, 7:36 AM IST

Bengaluru: Former police commissioner of Hubballi-Dharwad, Pandurang Rane and two senior serving officers of Karnataka police have been examined in connection with the 2016 murder of BJP worker Yogesh Gowda, officials said on Wednesday.

Rane, now retired, along with the then DCPs Mallikarjuna Baladandi and Jinendra Khanagavi, both posted in the Hubballi Dharawad Commissionerate, were recently quizzed by the agency in connection with the murder, they said.

The two DCPs, still serving, were supervisory officers in the case in which six suspects were arrested by the police, the officials said.

The CBI sources said they are not being questioned as accused and their role, if any, is yet to be determined.

Gowda was killed on June 15, 2016 in front of a gym in Sapthapura in Dharwad.

The agency had taken over the case on September 24, 2019, nearly three years after the murder, on the request of the BJP government in Karnataka and a referral from the Centre.

The case was earlier probed by the Karnataka police which had charged six persons of Dharwad for allegedly planning and executing the killing.

The CBI has arrested eight accused in the case, of which seven are in judicial custody, the officials added.