The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad told a court in Mumbai on Tuesday that two of the five right-wing activists arrested in connection with an arms case had planned to target a music concert in Pune in 2017 and had also hurled a petrol bomb outside a cinema hall, PTI reported.
The police had seized arms and ammunition from the five activists earlier this month. They produced four of them before a sessions judge on Tuesday after their police remand came to an end. The court extended their police custody by a week.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad said two of the accused – Vaibhav Raut and Sudhanwa Gondhalekar – wanted to target the Sunburn festival in Pune as they believed it “is against Hindu culture”.
Raut and Gondhalekar were among the three people arrested on August 10 for allegedly being part of a conspiracy to carry out blasts across the state. The police found a large stash of crude bombs and weapons at Raut’s office and home. Raut is a co-founder of cow protection group Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti, which is said to be affiliated with the right-wing Hindu Janajagruti Samiti.
The arrested activists were also involved in setting off a bomb outside a theatre at Kalyan where the Hindi movie Padmaavat was being screened in January, the police claimed.
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