Indeed, even without narco tests, the CBI has collected copious and compelling evidence against G N Patil, Ulhas Patil, Lokhande and Narkhede, sufficient to name them in its chargesheet and make them stand trial. Mobile phone records; a letter written by Mali and Sonawane from inside the jail naming G N Patil and Ulhas Patil as the “masterminds” of the murder; Mali’s reiteration of the same in an interview to Aaj Tak TV channel; damning statements by his wife Rekha Mali and her brother that they regularly received money from G N Patil, Lokhande and Narkhede while Mali was in jail — all this and more is part of the evidence collected by the CBI.

Then there is an eye-witness statement by one Rambhau Pawar, who tried to intervene when the crime was being committed but had to flee when Mali shouted at him: “Yahan se bhag nahin to tera bhi yehi haal karenge. Hamare peechhe netaon ke haath hain. Bharosa nahi hai to jaan le ki hamare peechhe Ulhas Patil, G N Patil, Ramesh Chaudhary (a local Congress MLA) ke haath hain”. Pawar’s diary, in which the whole incident has been described, is now with the CBI.

In spite of the mounting evidence in its possession, the CBI last month filed a chargesheet in which it named only Sonawane, a lowly accomplice of Mali, as the accused, and left out your brother and the other three persons. This, Respected Rashtrapatiji, lends credibility to what Mahesh Jethmalani, counsel for Rajni Patil, has stated in his written submission before the court last week: “There is a conspiracy at the highest levels of power to suppress the truth and protect those guilty of conspiring to murder. The criminal justice system has obviously failed in the instant case. The petitioner, already widowed by a pernicious conspiracy to commit murder, will be further widowed in her attempt to seek justice if the courts of this country abandon her and permit powerful politicians; protected by even more powerful ones, to get away with murder.”

... contd.