Mumbai: Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) detained a 28-year-old youth, Vasudev Suryavanshi, from Jalgaon late on Thursday evening. ATS sources said Suryavanshi has been detained for questioning in connection with the Nalasopara explosives haul. Police had raided his house and his workplace, a garage, on Thursday evening. He was detained after suspicious materials like CDs with arms training content, bomb-making literature and maps of different cities which had places marked with a red pen, including the location of the Sunburn festival in Pune, were seized.
According to sources, two teams of the ATS raided Suryavanshi’s house and garage at Saakli village in Yaval taluka of Jalgaon on Thursday and seized ‘suspicious material’. Police suspect Suryavanshi was providing the vehicles to the accused arrested in Nalasopara explosives haul for commuting across the state to conduct a recce of various spots. The ATS also strongly suspects that the vehicle used by the assassins to shoot rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar on August 20, 2013, in Pune, had been provided by Suryavanshi.
ATS chief Atulchandra Kulkarni however refused to divulge details and said Suryavanshi was detained for routine questioning about his involvement in the Nalasopara explosives haul. Social media activities and messages exchanged between Suryavanshi and Sharad Kalaskar shows his connection to the right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha, said an officer.
An ATS source close to the investigation said, “During the raids, when we checked Suryavanshi’s phone, we found messages exchanged by him and Kalaskar, an arrested accused in the Nalasopara explosives haul. On the basis of these strong suspicions, Suryavanshi was detained and brought to Mumbai.” Suryavanshi, a native of Karki village of Muktainagar taluka in Jalgaon, shifted to Saakli village after his father passed away. He stays in Saakli with his maternal uncle, and works in a garage owned by him.