Published on: Sept 04, 2025 05:18 am IST
The right-wing organisation has sought damages of ₹10 crore from them, claiming that they defamed the organisation
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday transferred a defamation suit filed by Sanatan Sanstha from Goa to Kolhapur. The suit was against Hamid Dabholkar, son of Dr Narendra Dabholkar, and four others for blaming the right-wing organisation for the murder of the slain rationalist.
A single judge bench of justice NJ Jamadar has transferred the suit filed by the right-wing organisation from a civil court in Fonda to a civil court senior division in Kolhapur, said advocate Sachindra Shetye, who represented one of the parties to the suit.
The order was on a petition filed by Hamid and journalist Nikhil Wagle, who is also being sued by the Sanatan Sanstha. The right-wing organisation has sought damages of ₹10 crore from them, claiming that they defamed the organisation. The duo approached the high court in 2021, a year after the suit was filed, seeking its transfer from Goa, where the headquarters of Sanatan Sanstha is located, to any court in Maharashtra, preferably in Mumbai, Pune, or Kolhapur. They claimed that Hamid was facing a serious threat to his life, and his well-being was in peril if he visited Goa. They had therefore urged the high court to exercise its powers under Section 24 (general power to transfer or withdraw any suit) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and transfer the suit to Maharashtra.
Justice Jamadar on Wednesday accepted their contentions and transferred the suit to Kolhapur on August 3.
Hamid’s father, Dr Narendra Dabholkar, was shot dead at 7.20am on August 20, 2013, at the Omkareshwar Bridge near his residence in Pune when he was out for a morning walk.
In May 2024, a special court under the National Investigation Agency convicted the two shooters. However, it acquitted the others who were accused of conspiring to kill Dr Narendra – advocate Sanjay Punalekar, Dr Virendrasin Sharadchandra Tawade, and Vikram Vinay Bhave, all linked to Sanatan Sanstha. The court had cleared the trio of all the charges levelled against them due to a lack of cogent evidence against them.
