MAHARASHTRA POLICE
WEB DESK
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Friday said that it has arrested three men affiliated to radical Hindu outfits from Nallasopara and Satara. Arrests were made following multiple raids at different place.
The ATS also said that with the recovery of a huge cache of explosives, including live crude bombs and gelatin sticks, they had averted major terror attacks at multiple places.
According to police sources, the Vikhroli unit of the ATS got a tip-off on Tuesday about the alleged conspiracy as well as the phone numbers of the suspects. The informant also told the police that the accused had a cache of weapons with them at Nalasopara.
“We searched Raut’s shop and home in Nalasopara on Thursday night and found 12 and eight crude bombs from the premises respectively. Gelatin sticks and notes on how to make bombs were also recovered,” said an ATS officer.
Raut’s interrogation led the police to the other two.
An FIR against the trio was lodged by the Vikhroli ATS and the accused were formally arrested at 3.30 pm, and produced before the sessions court in Mumbai around 5.30 pm on Friday.
The accused have been remanded in police custody till August 18.
The public prosecutor, while seeking their police custody, told the court that the squad needed to ascertain the origin of the seized bombs, the purpose for which they were to be used, the target locations, how the accused received training and if they were associated with any gang or terrorist outfit.
The prosecutor also told the court that the ATS needed to find out the mastermind of the group and analyse the social media accounts of the arrested people.
According to the Indian Express, the three have been arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code and Explosives Act. According to the ATS, they have recovered 22 items including 20 crude bombs, two gelatin sheets, a note on how to prepare bombs, one six-volt battery, a few loose wires, transistors and glue from the arrested.
Among the arrested is Vaibhav Raut (40), allegedly a member of the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti who is also said to be a sympathiser of the right wing Sanatan Sanstha. Suspects allegedly linked to the Sanatan Sanstha were involved in the murders of three rationalists – Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi – and the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh.
Another accused, Sudhanwa Gondhalekar (39) from Satara, is a member of the Shri Shivapratishthan Hindustan, whose chief is Sambhaji Bhide. Bhide has been booked in two criminal cases in connection with violence near Bhima Koregaon on January 1 by the Pune Police. The third accused, Sharad Kasalkar (25) was arrested along with Raut from Raut’s Nallasopara residence. Sources said that the ATS recovered a note on making bombs from Kasalkar and that Gondhalekar had knowledge of explosives and trained the other two men on assembling them.
according to paper the ATS is also probing links between the three men arrested and the murders of three rationalists and Gauri Lankesh. “While there is no doubt that they were closely affiliated to Sanatan Sanstha, we think these are two different modules that co-existed but worked differently. While the four murders were executed using weapons, in this case, crude bombs have been recovered, we suspect that this is a different module,” said an official.
“During the course of the investigation into the murder of Lankesh, a diary was recovered, this dairy was shared with the Maharashtra Police. However, the names of the arrested are not mentioned in the diary,” said another senior official.
Raut was also under watch, police said. “He was a self-proclaimed cow vigilante and was under our watch. Prohibitory orders were issued against him,” Superintendent of Police, Palghar Manjunath Singe told The Indian Express.