Journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder accused Shrikant Pangarkar removed from Shiv Sena day after joining

Amid widespread criticism over Shiv Sena’s decision to reinduct Shrikant Pangarkar – an accused in the murder case of journalist Gauri Lankesh – party chief and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Oct 20 canceled his appointment.

Shinde issued an order declaring all district-level appointments including Pangarkar’s in the Jalna assembly segment as "null and void."

Ahead of Maharastra assembly elections, Pangarkar was reinducted into party ranks on Oct 18 by his “political guru” and former minister Arjun Khotkar and appointed the party’s poll campaign in-charge for Jalna. But Shinde’s order stated, “All orders issued at the (district level) in Jalna stand null and void.”

On Oct 18, Khotkar told reporters that Pangarkar – a former Shiv Sainik – has not only returned to the party but has also been appointed as the chief of the Jalna election campaign.

Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly polls will be held on Nov 20, and results will be declared on Nov 23.

Pangarkar, however, claimed he never quit the party and had served in many positions in the Sena. “Since 2014, I have been handling the role that I have been assigned now,” he was quoted as saying.

Pertinently, Khotkar had distanced himself from Pangarkar after the Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested him in August 2018, party insiders were quoted as saying.

Son of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) worker and former corporator Jagannath, Pangarkar began his political journey with the undivided Sena in 1996. He won his first civic polls in 2001 from Jalna and repeated the feat five years later.

In 2011, he quit and joined Hindu Janajagruti Samithi, a right-wing organization. In the Lankesh murder case, Pangarkar is accused of attending a training camp and arranging firearms.

He is also an accused in the Nalasopara arms haul case in which the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) has charged him and 11 others with conspiring to disrupt the 2017 Sunburn music festival in Pune.

He has denied all allegations and claimed he was implicated due to “political rivalry.” He is out on bail in both cases. Karnataka High Court granted him bail in the Lankesh murder case on Sep 4 this year.

“If you read the bail order or even the chargesheet, you will find that there is no evidence against me. All allegations are false. I lost six years of my life. I am not a criminal and have no role in both cases. I have been active only in politics,” Pangarkar was quoted as saying on Oct 20.

Lankesh (55) was shot dead by three shooters outside her home in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017, after she had returned from office. Lankesh worked as an editor in Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada weekly started by her father P. Lankesh, and ran her own weekly called Gauri Lankesh Patrike.