The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against Vaibhav Raut, a co-founder of a cow protection group, and 11 others, Mumbai Mirror reported. Some of the accused have also been named in the murder cases of journalist Gauri Lankesh and rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.
The arrested persons include Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhanwa Gondhalekar, former Shiv Sena corporator Shrikant Pangarkar, Sachin Prakasrao Andure, Avinash Pawar, Vasudev Suryavanshi, Leeladhar Ukhirde, Suchit Rangswamy, Bharat Kurne, Amol Kale, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Dasharath Miskin, Maharashtra Today reported.
The chargesheet said that some of the accused are members of Hindutva organisation “Sanatan Sanstha, Hindu Janjagruti” and other smaller organisations, the news website reported. The accused, the investigators claim, were influenced by a book published by the Sanatan Sanstha titled Kshatra Dharma Sadhana, which calls on Hindus to unite to establish a “Hindu Rashtra”.
The 6,842-page chargesheet has been filed under relevant sections of the Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and Maharashtra Police Act, ANI reported.
The group had purportedly conspired to use ammunition including country-made pistols and bombs to target those who speak or write against “the so called Hindu Dharma”. The chargesheet said a significant amount of ammunition had been seized from the accused in several raids.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad alleged that the group had plotted to target the Sunburn music festival in December 2017 to “send a strong message against Western music and culture”, but cancelled its plans over suspicions that one of their identities had been compromised on the surveillance cameras.
Since August, the Anti-Terrorism Squad has made several arrests in an alleged conspiracy to conduct bomb blasts across the state, and has recovered crude bombs, detonators and firearms from several suspects. Many of those arrested are reported to be Hindutva activists.
Raut was the first to be arrested on August 9 after a raid at his home in Mumbai’s Nalasopara locality. He is a member of the Bhandari community of Nalasopara and a co-founder of the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti. This group is said to be affiliated to the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, an offshoot of the Hindutva organisation Sanatan Sanstha.
In August, the Sanathan Sanstha had distanced itself from all the people arrested so far in connection with the Nalasopara arms case and the Narendra Dabholkar murder case.
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