Nalasopara explosives haul: One more detained in Jalna

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has detained a 30-year-old man from Jalna for questioning, on his role in the Nalasopara explosives haul. The man has been identified as Ganesh Kapale, owner of a stationery shop, which was frequented by former Shiv Sena corporator Shrikant Pangarkar, who was arrested by the ATS last month.

According to sources, Kapale’s name had cropped up during the investigation of Pangarkar and another accused, Sharad Kalaskar, who were arrested by the ATS in connection with the Nalasopara explosives haul. Sources added Kapale was picked up for questioning from his residence in Shani Mandir Chowk.  Kapale, a DTP operator, owns a Xerox shop in Jalna and was reportedly close to Pangarkar.

The former Sena corporator also used to visit Kapale’s shop, which meant the latter could  have been a part of the terror plot hatched by right-wing terror outfits, said the source. “Pangarkar could have used Kapale’s Xerox shop as a front for organising and printing documents of the financial assistance provided by him. Kalaskar too had named him as an accomplice in the primary investigation, but after Pangarkar’s arrest, changed his statement,” according to the source.  Police suspect Kapale to have given logistic help to the accused arrested in the Nalasopara explosives haul, as well as the killing of Dr. Dabholkar.

The ATS is also questioning the two accused who were arrested from Jalgaon, on whether they had any ties with Pangarkar, as he is suspected to be the financier in the explosives case. The ATS has yet to find a direct link between the two parties, but believes the financial trail might provide them the evidence to join the dots.

So far, the ATS has arrested seven persons in the case, who have been identified as Vaibhav Raut, Sudhanva Gondhalekar, Sharad Kalaskar, Avinash Pawar, Shrikant Pangarkar, Vasudev Suryavanshi and Vijay Lodhi. Some of the arrested accused were allegedly linked to Hindu extremist outfits, who had planned an explosion at the location of a popular western music festival, ‘Sunburn’, which takes place in Pune.