Scores of anti-superstition activists today took out a protest march through streets in Pune paying tributes to slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and condemning police failure in tracking down his assassins even after a year.

Dabholkar was shot dead from a close range by unknown assailants on a city bridge when he was taking a morning walk on August 20 last year, jolting the progressive social movement which he endeavoured to promote through his NGO Anddhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ANS) in Maharashtra.

The ANS activists joined by other volunteers, which included veteran Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah, participated in the march that started from the Omkareshwar bridge, to the spot where Dabholkar fell to bullets. Although Maharashtra government passed the anti-superstition and black magic law last year for which Dabholkar campaigned all his life, the state police remained clueless about his murderers and the case was subsequently transferred to CBI for investigation on a High Court directive.