The site of the attack on Govind Pansare and his wife in Kolhapur.
Veteran communist leader and anti-toll tax campaigner Govind Pansare and his wife, who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds in an attack on Monday, are stable, doctors have said. The investigation in the case is yet to make any headway.
Mr Pansare, who was shot in the neck, armpit and right leg, is on ventilator support but his vital parameters are stable, said Dr Ulhas Damale of Kolhapur's Aster Adhar Hospital. "Uma Pansare, who sustained head injuries is also stable," he said.
The couple had been out for a morning walk when bike-borne assailants shot four rounds at them. A country made weapon was used for the attack, investigators said today.
The spot where the shooting took place is a quiet, residential area and no CCTVs were placed there, the police said. There was no eye-witness to the shooting either.
Police sources say they have rounded up history shooters in the area and are interrogating weapon suppliers. The nearby areas are being combed.
It appears that the "reactionary forces and the contractor lobby had come together" to eliminate Mr Pansare, said Dr Kango Bhalchandra, state secretary of the CPI and his longtime associate.
"Pansare has been at the forefront of a struggle against the illegal collection of taxes through toll," he said. "He had also opposed people who are trying to make a hero out of (Nathuram) Godse and people who are trying to project Shivaji as a leader of a particular caste. We feel these forces are behind the attack."
Mr Pansare was the third activist to be shot while out on a morning walk. In August 2013, anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar had been shot dead in Pune and in 2010, RTI activist Satish Shetty was killed.
While the Maharashtra government has ordered a high level inquiry into the attack on Mr Pansare, Chandrakant Patil, Guardian Minister of Kolhapur, said, "The government will consider providing security to activists who face threats to their life."