New Delhi, May 25: The increasing evidence of involvement of hardline saffron outfits in terror activities, this is the need of the hour to banned such Hindutva terror outfits.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a chargesheet against 11 members of the Hindu outfit Sanatan Sanstha in connection with the 2009 Diwali-eve blasts in Margao at Goa that killed two persons. The intelligence agencies are now trying to find out whether other Hindu organisations were linked with the Sanstha.
Those chargesheeted include Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, who were killed when the bomb went off accidentally at Margao before it could be planted. Besides Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, the chargesheet has named Vinay Talekar, Vinayak Patil, Dhananjay Ashtekar and Dilip Mangaonkar, all of whom are currently in jail. The absconding accused are Prashant Juvekar, Sarang Akolkar, Jayaprakash alias Anna, Rudra Patil and Prashant Ashtekar.
NIA investigations have revealed that Dhananjay Ashtekar prepared 12 circuits of the explosives in Pune of which five were brought to Goa in August 2009. The IED was prepared with the help of gelatine sticks and test-exploded in the jungles adjoining Talaulim village on August 24-25, 2009 behind the house of Laxmikant Naik, brother of deceased accused Yogesh Naik.
The investigators, according to the chargesheet, have found that during the test explosion, Malgonda Patil, Yogesh Naik, Vinay Talekar, Dhananjay Ashtekar, Prashant Juvekar, Sarang Kulkarni, Jayaprakash and one more person were present. The chargesheet mentions that Dilip Maganokar was active in the conspiracy and unexploded material was found in his possession.
Incidentally, the Santan Sanstha, often referred to as a cult, was founded by Jayant Balaji Athavale and while some claim that it has links to the RSS and its religious wings like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Sangh denies the claims. Apart from it’s so called “presenting spirituality in a scientific language”, there have been allegations of this cult trying not only to target minority communities but also rival groups. Chief of Dharamshakti Sena — an outfit linked with the Sanstha — Mr Pankaj Bagul had gone on record saying, “Hindus and Muslims cannot be like brothers. The Sanstha’s role was also suspected in the September riots at Miraj in Goa.
In 2008, bombs were triggered at the Vishnudas Bhave Auditorium in Vashi, and the Gadkari Rangayatan in Thane. The theatre managements had disregarded protests against the play Ambhi Pachpute. Ramesh Gadkari, Mangesh Nikam, Santosh Angre and Vikram Bhave were arrested in connection with the bombs. They were activists of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), an ultra-right Hindutva political group which the Sanstha lists on its website.
After the chargesheet, it is being speculated whether the home ministry will now consider setting up a separate cell to counter Hindu militancy. Recently, the AICC general secretary, Mr Digvijay Singh, met and urged the home minister to set up a cell for Hindu militancy.
In May 2002, 11 persons gathered at a house at Panchmari in Madhya Pradesh to “teach minority communities a lesson.” They all had links with the Sangh Parivar, which they claimed to have snapped ties with. The meeting was presided over by one Swami Ashimanand.
During the meeting a plan was chalked out to carry out blasts in minority-dominated pockets across the country. Some of the members who attended the meeting were Devendra Gupta, Chandrashekhar Patidar, Vishnu Patidar, Sunil Joshi and Vinod Patidar.
Five people of the minority community were killed in a powerful blast in Malegaon in Maharashtra and one boy was killed in the explosion in Modasa in the Sabarkantha district on September 29, 2008. Though the police first suspected the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) behind the blast, the breakthrough came when they traced the origin of the two-wheeler used in the blast to Gujarat. It was then found that the motor cycle belonged to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a former Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Pratinidhi who had sold the motorcycle to an acquaintance. “A common intention to take revenge from members of the other community in the wake of several blasts in the country brought together the planners and executors of the blasts,” said an Anti-Terrorism Squad officer, requesting anonymity. The ATS had to face a lot of criticism from Hindu groups including political parties like the BJP and the Shiv Sena for the arrests.
Lt. Col. Purohit and Pragya Thakur were the members of Abhinav Bharat, headed by Ms Himani, the grand-daughter of Veer Savarkar. Purohit reportedly revealed that Pragya Thakur and Sunil Joshi were disciples of Swami Ashimanand. He revealed the name of Devender Gupta and linked them to the Malegaon blast.
Similar to the Malegaon blasts, the needle of suspicion had at first veered towards Muslim terror outfits during the Macca Masjid blast on May 18, 2007 in Hyderabad. Nine persons were killed and 58 were injured. Muslim youths were arrested and tortured but three years later, it is now emerging that the blast could traced to those connected with Abhinav Bharat.
The next serial blasts after Hyderabad were at the Ajmer dargah on October 11, 2007 in which three were killed and 30 injured. A few days after this, Sunil Joshi and Vinod Patidar were found dead at their respective houses in Indore. It is suspected that Joshi and Patidar were “silenced” since they were reportedly “becoming weak links.” There were initial speculations and reports that Joshi was a RSS pracharak, which the Sangh has denied.
The agencies started suspecting the involvement of the original gang members behind the two deaths only after the arrests of Devender Gupta, Chandrashekhar Barod and Vishnu Patidar. While Gupta was held from Ajmer on April 28, Vishnu Patidar and Chandrashekhar Barod were arrested from Indore on May 1 this year. Attempts by central agencies and the ATS to get the files of these dead conspirators from the Madhya Pradesh police, a BJP-run state, have failed to evoke any action so far. Two other masterminds, Swami Asimanand and Ramnarayan Kalsangara are reportedly hiding in Gujarat and Karnataka, both saffron-ruled states.
Few days back, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has urged Home Minister P. Chidambaram to set up a separate cell to deal with Hindu militancy.
He reportedly cited the increasing evidence of involvement of hardline saffron outfits in terror activities to demand such a cell.
Singh, a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, suspects bureaucratic and police patronage to some of these outfits. He is also concerned over the systematic RSS infiltration into the bureaucracy and the army.
Party sources said Singh expressed concern at some RSS affiliated organisations training IAS aspirants with a view to saffronise the administration.
He also pointed out that a number of NGOs backed by the RSS had penetrated the social sector.
Both the leaders were closeted for about 20 minutes in the North Block office of Chidambaram.
Singh later said while he had no problem with the RSS starting schools, what was alarming was the saffron infiltration in the army and cited the instance of Major Srikant Purohit.
Singh said state police and some central departments were soft on the saffron terror. “In most instances, cases against these outfits are diluted,” he said.
According to Singh, the arrest of an RSS activist in connection with the Ajmer blast exposed a chain linking all such incidents to Indore and Ujjain.
Singh also urged the home minister to expedite the cases involving innocent Muslim youths from Azamgarh. The two leaders are also believed to have discussed the Maoist menace.