Blasts plot: ATS says it has seized 'fresh cache' of arms

MUMBAI/PUNE: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) said on Saturday it had recovered a fresh cache of arms and ammunition from the hideouts of the three persons arrested on Friday for plotting bomb blasts in the state to disturb communal amity.

ATS officials said that based on information provided by gau rakshak Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar (both held from Nalasopara) and Sudhanva Ghondalekar (held from Pune), they recovered 11 countrymade pistols with magazines, 10 pistol barrels, an airgun, six partially made pistol bodies, three partially made magazines, 16 relay switches and one trigger mechanism battery, among other items. On Friday, ATS had said it had recovered 20 bombs and other ammunition.


ATS raids the house of a Sanatan Sanstha member Vaibhav Raut at Nalasopara, in Palghar. (Photo: PTI)

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told TOI the ATS operation was well-planned and conducted after gathering a lot of intelligence. "The material seized is dangerous and could have been used for anti-social and terror acts," he said. "The inquiry is still being conducted, and the motive and targets will be extracted through this inquiry," he said.




Sources said the arrested accused had apparently stored the cache but may not have manufactured the material. The ATS suspects there may be 6 or 7more sleeper cells in the state, lying low after police raids.

Ghondalekar (39) has been working as an interior decorator in Pune and has a shop in Parvati area, ATS officers said. He is originally from Satara where his parents, wife and two daughters live. Kalaskar (25), who hails from a village near Daulatabad fort, had left for Kolhapur five years ago. His family is in Aurangabad. His brother said Sharad wanted to start an industry by selling off the 7 acres the family owns. But after the family opposed his idea, he moved to Kolhapur. He last visited the village on June 15, the brother said. “Nobody in the village, including us, knows where he was working and what work he was doing. All we know is he was doing some moulding-related job,” the brother said. He added Sharad avoided carrying a cellphone and used a landline when he wanted to speak to the family.

Raut’s lawyer, Sanatan Sanstha advocate Sanjeev Punalekar, denied the Nalasopara resident was a member of the Sanstha. “ATS has claimed to have raided his place and seized explosives, and at the time of seizure they had not made the arrests. Then the question is who brought in the explosives,” Punalekar said. The Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti, of which Raut is a member, said he was targeted for highlighting illegal slaughter of cows ahead of Bakri Eid.

The Goa-headquartered Sanstha’s spokesperson Chetan Rajhans too stated Raut is not a seeker of Sanatan.