IT’S a slap on the face that has left the ruling Shiv Sena reeling. Till now, party leaders were dismissive about allegations that the suspicious death of Ramesh Kini had anything to do with Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s family. But the Bombay High Court’s recent order that investigations in the case should be transferred from the State CID to the CBI has put the party on the defensive.
Sheila, the widow of Ramesh Kini who has been relentlessly pursuing the case, had filed a writ petition on August 13 seeking the transfer of the case to the CBI on the grounds that a state-level probe would not inspire confidence when ruling party members were among the suspects. Kini’s landlord is closely linked to the Thackeray family, and the allegation is that the Sena had Kini bumped off as a favour.
A division bench of the court—comprising Justices Ashok Agarwal and R.M.S. Khandeparkar—seemed to find merit in the argument. While transferring the case, the judges said that the state police had ignored the angle of homicide and had concluded that Kini, whose body was found in a Pune movie theatre on July 23, had committed suicide.
"The possibility of Mr Kini having been done to death prior to the commencement of the movie and his corpse being planted in the theatre to divert the course of investigation cannot be ruled out. No efforts appear to have been made to investigate the aforesaid theory," the court observed. While upholding the "competency and integrity" of the CID, the judges observed they could not overlook the fact that "some of the persons against whom the possibility of guilt has been raised are either members of the ruling party in the state or are politically well-connected. In this context, we find that not only should justice be done, but it should also appear to be done in the public eye."
Kini had been involved in a dispute over his flat with landlord Laxmichand Shah, whose son Suman is a close friend of the Sena chief’s nephew Raj Thackeray. The court stayed the transfer of the investigation, allowing the state government time till mid-October to appeal to the Supreme Court against the order. The question of a Supreme Court appeal—which will be taken up shortly after the complete text of the judgement is available—has brought to the fore differences in the ruling combine.
Leaders in the BJP, the Sena’s ruling alliance partner, mostly chose to stay mum. But they privately maintain that any appeal against the decision would only amount to an admission of guilt. Besides which, the case would continue to attract media attention and show the state government in a bad light if the Supreme Court actually upholds the high court decision.
"It is politically unwise. If the state government feels that Raj Thackeray is not involved, what difference does it make whether the CID or the CBI investigates the case—should not the conclusions be the same?" asks a senior BJP leader. The court decision has given a big boost to the Congress and other Opposition parties which have been agitating for Raj’s arrest. "It is a great victory", says Janata Dal leader Mrinal Gore. "It’s strange that the Thackerays are complaining about injustice from the court when they are running parallel courts. Their lower courts are the Sena shakhas, the high court is the party newspaper Saamna—where litigants are thrashed—and the apex court is ‘Matoshri’ (the Sena chief’s residence)."
Seeking equity, Raj justifies an appeal to the apex court. He argues that the prosecution’s logic for bringing in the CBI has been at the fore since Chhagan Bhujbal, Opposition leader in the legislative council, introduced Sheila Kini to the press in July. Now the Kini case is the main issue in the campaign for the forthcoming assembly by-elections. Says state Congress general secretary Gurunath Kulkarni: "Law and order is not for the protection of Bal Thackeray, Sharad Pawar or Gurunath Kulkarni, it is for the man on the street. If he is unprotected, where is law and order? We are making a case study of the Kini episode—it shows a total breakdown of law and order."
The Congress has already distributed one lakh copies of Mala nyay milnar kaa? (Will I get Justice?), a booklet on the Kini case, across the state. And as its leaders cover the constituencies that are going to the polls, the differences that have riven the party, and lost them the state for the first time in 1995, are receding. The new adhesive for a resurgent Congress is a case called Kini.
Enough arguments have been put forward by Sena detractors to take the case off the state CID. However, the thrust of the case in the high court for bringing the CBI into the probe are:
Vital areas in the case have been ignored: The circumstances leading to Ramesh Kini’s death (at Alka Theatre in Pune on July 23) indicate a cover-up. The police came to the scene belatedly and, upon discovering the body, refused to move it from the theatre till the show was over. A hurried post mortem was conducted at 2.30 am (unusual, except in an emergency) and no relative was informed. Relatives were called at 7.30 am, indicating that their phone numbers were available. The post mortem cited ‘ischemic heart disease’ as the cause of death. No effort was made to check whether sodium cyanide found on the body had been consumed, indicating it was planted subsequently. In short, there was a clear case to investigate murder, but no attempt was made to do so.
Kini was regularly called to the Saamna office, threatened and terrorised. He landed in Pune on a day when all public transport was disrupted. How did a man of scant means reach there—who took him?
However, the most persuasive argument must have been this: a government run by the Thackerays cannot oversee investigations into a case involving members of the family (Raj), people like the Shahs who are close to both Raj and his all-powerful uncle, and a Sena youth leader (Rane).
Political observers see the latest turn of events in the Kini case as a first serious body blow to the Shiv Sena. For one, it seems to have given the Opposition a genuine issue to rake up for all days to come. On another front, there is speculation that the rift between the Sena and its ruling coalition partner will widen over the Kini murder. Pushed back to the wall, the Sena’s much-talked-about crisis management style seems to be failing it.
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