Five held now for ‘terror plot’, ATS prepares fresh dossier for Sanatan Sanstha ban
Mumbai : Days after the Maharashtra government decided to send a reminder to the Union government to fast-track its pending proposal on banning the radical right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha, its Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has started preparing a fresh dossier on the organisation.
The ATS has already sent a status report on the recent terror case made out by it under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), against five people, sources told The Sunday Express. Members of various fringe Hindu radical groups, they were believed to be planning to carry out attacks in Mumbai, Pune, Satara, Solapur and Sangli. “The focus of the dossier would basically be to establish links between the accused and the Sanstha,” said an officer. “The dossier will be a detailed one to fast-track the pending proposal of the state government to ban the outfit.”
The fifth arrest in the case, of Avinash Pawar, was made by the ATS on Saturday. A resident of Mumbai suburb Ghatkopar, the 30-year-old is alleged to be associated with the Shri Shivapratishthan Hindustan.
Earlier, Vaibhav Raut, Sudhanva Gondhalekar, Sharad Kalaskar and ex-Shiv Sena corporator Shrikant Pangarkar had been arrested. An official said, “Pawar’s name cropped up during the interrogation of Gondhalekar, as the two are associated with the same group.” Officials said they had called Pawar, who works at Mazgaon dockyard, for questioning, and he was arrested after he “refused to cooperate in the probe”.
A family member told The Sunday Express, “Pawar is a Shiv bhakt, but not a terrorist.”
The ATS officer said they believe the arrests strengthen their case against the Sanstha. “While there are no overt links between the five and the Goa-based outfit, their social media profiles, emails, Call Data Records, bank accounts and other related documents could establish the links. Even if they are covert in nature, it makes our case stronger that the outfit is involved in terror activities and therefore needs to be banned under the UAPA.”
The Maharashtra government had sent two proposals earlier, in 2011 and 2015, making out a case to ban the Sanatan Sanstha. Based on the recommendations of a state government, the Centre can ban an outfit, provided it is convinced the outfit is carrying out terrorist activities and waging war against the State, as mentioned in the Act.
Last week, Minister of State (Home) Deepak Kesarkar said the state government would apprise the Centre about the investigations in the case. “We have ensured compliance on the queries raised (by the Centre on the Maharashtra government’s proposal) earlier,” he said.
An ATS official said, “Since a case was registered under the UAPA, we had to sent a status report to the Home Department, detailing the facts of the case and what is mentioned in the FIR registered by us. A status report makes a mention that the accused have links to the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), an offshoot of the Sanatan Sanstha, and in a few cases we have also found that they are closely associated with the Sanstha.”
The 2011 report, prepared when former IPS officer Rakesh Maria was heading the state ATS, had detailed the three cases registered against the Sanatan Sanstha in 2008 — an IED attack on February 20, 2008, at Cineraj Cinema in Panvel during the screening of the movie Jodha Akbar; the hurling of a bomb at Vishnudas Bhave Auditorium on May 31, 2008, while the play Aamhi Pachpute was on; and a bomb blast on June 4, 2008, in the parking lot of Ram Ganesh Gadkari Auditorium during a performance of the same play. Six people had been arrested by police during the investigation.
“Of the six arrested, five were seekers (sadhaks) of the Sanatan Sanstha and one was their servant,” the report is believed to say. It adds that Sanatan Prabhat, a mouthpiece of the Sanatan Sanstha, had carried articles saying Jodha Akbar and Aamhi Pachpute desecrated Hindu gods, religion and Hindu epics The 2011 reported added, “From the incidents in Vashi, Panvel, Thane and Goa, it is evident that the arrest and wanted accused formed an unlawful association to encourage and aid the other members to carry out subversive activities of sabotage (terror act) for promoting enmity between different groups of religion with the intent to disrupt maintenance of communal harmony, to threaten the sovereignty of the state or to strike terror in the minds of people by indulging in terrorist acts using IEDs… and thereby attempted to wage war against GOI (government of India).”
After a lukewarm response from the Centre on the 2011 request, Maharashtra made a fresh attempt to have the Sanatan Sanstha banned in 2015, when Himanshu Roy, who died earlier this year, was heading the Maharashtra ATS. An official said, “When both the CBI and a Special Investigation Team probing the murders of Maharashtra-based rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare named Sanatan Sanstha members as accused, the ATS wrote back to the Centre detailing these cases and seeking a ban. That request is still pending.”
The official added, “Post that, many queries have been raised by the Centre. During one such queries, the Maharashtra ATS expressed the reservation that banning one outfit wouldn’t serve the purpose as it is registered under different names.”
courtesy : indianexpress.com
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Karnataka govt formulating civil aviation policy: Minister Patil
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Infrastructure Development Minister M B Patil on Friday said that the state government is formulating a civil aviation policy of its own, covering various aspects of the sector.
He also said that a meeting of public representatives from Ballari, Vijayanagara and Koppal districts will be held soon under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's chairmanship, regarding the airport in the region, as he stressed that both feasibility and viability should be considered while determining the location for airports.
The minister was replying to a question about Ballari airport, raised by Gangavathi MLA G Janardhana Reddy in the Legislative Assembly.
"We build airports, but after three years they get shut down. The situation is not only in our state, but it is across the country. We don't know the future of district airports. So I met the Union Civil Aviation Minister along with the Chief Minister with a request that the UDAN scheme be extended from three years to five years, and that for the subsequent five years the Centre and the state should jointly support operations in a 50:50 ratio," Patil said.
"The issue is there across the country and they (Centre) are also thinking on these lines...We are also bringing a policy on civil aviation from the Infrastructure Development Department (IDD). Two other states have done it --Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. That policy will have things like state's share, bulk amount sought by international airlines, among other things," he said, adding that work is on regarding this policy.
Noting that the proposed Ballari airport should benefit not only Ballari district but also the people of Koppal and Vijayanagara districts, the minister said in this regard, a meeting of public representatives from the three districts will soon be convened under the chairmanship of the chief minister to deliberate on the merits and challenges of the project.
There is little use if an airport becomes inactive after construction. "Keeping this in mind, the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has identified two new sites in Ballari district measuring about 800 acres and 1,200 acres for the proposed airport," he said.
If the airport were to be constructed at the previously identified site in Ballari, it would require the construction of an eight-lane greenfield highway and involve several other issues, the minister said.
"Land acquisition and compensation alone would cost nearly as much as the airport project itself. Therefore, that option is not practically feasible. The matter will ultimately be finalised at the meeting to be held under the chairmanship of the CM," he added.
Stating that airports must be planned with foresight, otherwise, the same mistakes seen in Hubballi, Belagavi and Vijayapura would be repeated, Patil pointed out that the distance between Belagavi and Hubballi airports is only about 70 km.
"If an airport had been constructed at a location between the two districts to serve both regions, it might have been declared an international airport based on passenger traffic," he said.
A similar mistake has been made in Vijayapura as well. "The airport that is now ready for inauguration has been constructed on the Kalaburagi road. If it had been located towards Almatti instead, it would have benefited places such as Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal and Bagalkote, all of which have tourist attractions," he said.
Highlighting that airports located in district and divisional headquarters across the country are facing challenges, the minister said Bidar and Kalaburagi airports are also experiencing difficulties.
"At present, Bidar airport is functioning with the support of the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB). There has also been a demand to resume operations at Kalaburagi airport, and steps will be taken in that direction," he added.
