Maharashtra ATS seizes 10 pistols from home of key terror accused
MAHARASHTRA, August 13: THE MAHARASHTRA Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) seized “around 10 pistols” Sunday from the residence of Vaibhav Raut, a member of the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti who was among the three arrested two days ago in a crackdown against radical Hindu groups last week.
“Around 10 pistols were seized from his residence. The latest seizure was based on the interrogation of the three accused. From their make, it looks like these pistols were procured from Uttar Pradesh. However, we are probing if they were procured or manufactured by the group,” said a senior official.
The ATS is now investigating if the three arrested, and their associates, were operating a weapons manufacturing unit, or procured the arms and ammunition from other states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
Also on the ATS radar is a graphics firm run by another of the arrested, Sudhanwa Gondhalekar, who is a member of the Shri Shivpratishthan Hindustan headed by Sambhaji Bhide who was booked in two cases in connection with the violence near Bhima Koregaon on January 1.
Sources said that the ATS recovered a chit detailing how to assemble a bomb from the third accused, Sharad Kasalkar (25), who was arrested from Raut’s Nalasopara residence. “While probing the role of Virendra Tawde, the ENT specialist who was arrested from Panvel in connection with the murders of Pune-based rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and CPI leader Govind Pansare, the CBI and SIT stumbled upon coded emails. They were between Tawde and wanted accused and Sanatan Sanstha member Sarang Akolkar on the need to set up an arms manufacturing unit in Maharashtra,” said another officer associated with the probe.
“Our probe will focus on finding out if Gondhalekar managed to float an unit or if the arrested accused managed to get in touch with arms suppliers from other states who helped them obtain this cache of weapons and ammunition,” he said.
Tawde is a member of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), which is an offshoot of the Sanatan Sanstha.
“The two shared numerous emails between 2008 and 2013. In emails exchanged between 2009 and 2010, the two discussed sahitya (literature)… in one of the emails, Tawde spoke about setting up a karkhana (factory)… Another email stated that ‘desi sahitya’ was available in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh while ‘videshi sahitya’ was available in Assam,” said the official.
“During sustained interrogation, Tawde revealed that the emails contained code words and the plan of the outfit was to raise an army of 15,000 sevaks for establishing a Hindu state… The word ‘karkhana’ was a code used for a weapons unit, which Tawde wanted to set up,” a senior CBI official probing the Dabholkar case said.
Raut, Kasalkar and Gondhalekar were arrested from Nalasopara and Satara in multiple raids by the ATS, which said they were affiliated to radical Hindu outfits. The ATS also said that with the recovery of a huge cache of explosives, including live crude bombs and gelatin sticks, they had averted major terror attacks at multiple places.
On Saturday, the ATS reported the seizure of “11 country made pistols with magazines, one airgun, 10 pistol barrels, six pistol magazines, six partially made pistol bodies, three partially made magazines, seven partially made pistol slides, several partially made parts of firearms”.
The seizure of partially made pistol parts along with country made pistols suggests that some of those arrested are involved in the illegal manufacture or assembly of firearms, said sources in Karnataka Police who are closely following developments in Maharashtra.
ATS sources said that during initial questioning, all the three accused claimed innocence and blamed each other for the bombs and other ammunition. “Raut claimed that he was not aware that they were bombs and that he had kept the consignment for safe-keeping on the request of the other two accused. The other two have been claiming that the explosives were found at Raut’s residence and they had nothing to do with them,” an official said.
Bhide’s organisation has claimed that Gondhalekar was just a worker and not actively involved in any of its activities over the last 4-5 years. But an article in Sanstha publication ‘Sanatan Prabhat’ on June 15, 2017, identifies Gondhalekar as a member of Bhide’s outfit.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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Iran, US receive proposal for 45-day ceasefire and reopening of Strait of Hormuz
Dubai (AP): Iran and the United States received a draft proposal late Sunday calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, two Mideast officials speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.
The proposal comes from Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators, hoping the 45-day window would provide enough time for talks to reach a permanent ceasefire. Iran and the US have not responded to the proposal, which was sent to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, the officials said.
The head of intelligence for Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed Monday in an attack targeting him, Iranian state media said.
Strikes on cities across Iran have killed more than 25 people from Sunday to Monday, while in Israel's Haifa, two people were found dead and two others were missing in rubble a day after an Iranian attack.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday stepped up his threat to hit Iran's critical infrastructure hard if the country's government doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday deadline.
Trump punctuated his threat with profanity in a social media post, saying Tuesday will be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”
The war began with joint US-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes from the United Nations and international law experts.
Here is the latest:
An Iranian drone strikes the UAE telecommunications building
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An Iranian drone attack damaged a telecommunications building in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, the state-run WAM news agency reported.
The attack targeted a building of the state-funded du telecom company.
No one was injured, WAM reported, quoting officials in Fujairah.
South Korea's spy agency sees no signs of North Korea supplying Iran
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South Korea's National Intelligence Service says there are no signs North Korea is providing Iran with weapons or other war-related supplies.
The spy agency's officials told lawmakers Monday that North Korea may be taking a cautious approach to preserve the possibility of dialogue with the Trump administration, according to two lawmakers who attended the closed-door briefing.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry has condemned the US-Israeli attacks on Iran as illegal, but the NIS said Pyongyang has not sent an official condolence message over the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's late supreme leader.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in recent years, has embraced the idea of a “new Cold War” and attempted to expand cooperation with countries confronting the US, including an economic delegation sent to Iran in April 2024.
South Korea plans to send ships and special envoys to Saudi Arabia
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South Korea plans to send at least five ships to Saudi Arabia's Yanbu port in the coming weeks to establish new oil transport routes in the Red Sea.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said Monday the ships will be deployed in phases beginning in mid-April, and the number of vessels could increase depending on contracts with Saudi partners.
Officials did not disclose the companies involved but said some domestic refiners may use non-Korean shipping firms.
South Korea also plans to send special envoys to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Algeria to step up diplomatic efforts to secure alternative fuel supplies, ruling party lawmaker Ahn Do-geol said.
The foreign ministry did not immediately reveal when the envoys would be sent.
Iran executes a man over the January protests
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Iran has executed another man convicted over charges stemming from the nationwide protests that swept Iran in January.
The judiciary's Mizan news agency identified the man hanged as Ali Fahim in a report on Monday.
It was unclear when he was executed.
Fahim had been convicted of allegedly storming a military base to seize weapons.
Amnesty International said Fahim and others convicted in the case “were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in detention, including beatings, floggings, prolonged solitary confinement, and death threats at gunpoint before being convicted in grossly unfair trials that relied on forced confessions extracted under torture and lasted only a few hours.”
The Human Rights Activist News Agency had said Fahim and others had entered a Tehran base of the all-volunteer Basij militia, an arm of the Revolutionary Guard, after it had been burned, then had been forced into confessions.
Iranian missiles hit central Israel
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Israeli rescue services reported Monday morning that several sites were hit by missiles launched from Iran toward multiple cities in the centre of Israel.
In Petah Tikva, paramedics provided medical treatment to an injured woman in serious condition with a chest injury from shrapnel and evacuated her to the Beilinson Hospital.
Firefighters in that city are handling cars on fire and continue searching to ensure there are no people trapped in the rubble.
In Tel Aviv, a man slightly injured by glass shrapnel was evacuated to the Ichilov Hospital.
Footage provided by the rescue service Magen David Adom shows damage to residential buildings due to the attack.
Meanwhile, Israel's military warned the public Monday morning of another missile barrage coming from Iran, the fourth such alert of the day.
