The sleuths also grilled 16 people on Saturday who are said to be associated to the trio currently in their custody.
A day after arresting three people including a cow activist from Nalasopara for allegedly planning terror attacks, the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) recovered a second cache of arms and ammunition from an undisclosed location after interrogating Sudhanava Gondhalekar, 39, the suspect picked up from Pune on Friday.
The sleuths also grilled 16 people on Saturday who are said to be associated to the trio currently in their custody.
The fresh haul includes 10 countrymade pistols, 10 pistol barrels, gun spares, magazines, 16 relay switches, a trigger mechanism, machetes, batteries, and a handbook for making explosives and firearms, the cops said. They added that six number plates of vehicles were also part of the seizure.
The first hoard of ammo and questionable electrical gear was recovered during searches at the Nalasopara home and shop of Vaibhav Raut, the first suspect, who was picked up from the western suburb on Thursday night. Twenty crude bombs and raw material for improvising explosive devices were part of the stockpile, the ATS had said.
Raut's grilling had led the cops to the other two suspects — Gondhalekar in Pune, and Sharad Kalaskar, 25, in Nalasopara.
"Following the recent recovery of arms and materials, we have intensified our probe and added sections of the Arms Act to the FIR," said an ATS officer. "More details are likely to come out after a thorough investigation of the seized equipment," he said.
The squad suspects that the arrested people and their associates are part of an established terrorist ensemble which intended to spread chaos, the officer said.
The police are also examining the cellphones and social media activity of the arrested men to find out if they were part of like-minded groups.
The officer also said that the 16 people questioned for alleged links to the accused come from Nalasopara, Pune, Satara and Solapur, which are all locations that featured on the list of target sites of the suspects, according to the ATS.
The ATS said it is also conducting fresh investigations to see if there is any linkage between the recent developments and the killings of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar in Pune and Govind Pansare in Kolhapur, and journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru.
Part Of A Terror Ensemble, Claims ATS
- Haul follows interrogation of Sudhanava Gondhalekar, one of 3 suspects arrested on Friday for allegedly plotting terror attacks
- First hoard of crude explosives recovered from suspect Vaibhav Raut, in Nalasopara, whose questioning led cops to the other two
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