Pune:
Three people arrested for the murder of Pune's Right to Information (RTI) activist Satish Shetty have been sent to police custody till January 25.
Police say one of those arrested Vijay Dabhade, an advocate paid for Shetty's contract killing.
He is said to have had a long-standing dispute with Shetty over an illegal construction that Shetty exposed.
RTI activist and associate of Anna Hazare, Satish Shetty was murdered in Talegaon near Pune on January 13.
He was attacked with swords and choppers by unknown persons when he was out on a morning walk.
Shetty had reportedly exposed several government land scams in Talegaon and Lonavla area.
Shetty, a bachelor, had plunged into the anti-corruption movement launched by Hazare many years ago and was by his side when he had undertaken a prolonged fast at pilgrim town of
Alandi to protest corrupt practices in government offices.
"He was killed simply because he used RTI to unearth corruption and in the process antagonised the vested interests of the powerful. The clear message that the killers want to send out is that nobody should dare to do what Satish did.
This is frightening and can cause a serious setback to RTI movement," Hazare said recalling that police were also probing whether a "supari" (contract) of Rs 30 lakh was given to contract killers to eliminate him (Hazare).