Tracking the terror trail in Maharashtra

Based on intelligence information received early in Aug, ATS retrieved large cache of arms from Nallasopara. Officers say, the probe focuses on finding links of three arrested with the killings of rationalists — Dabholkar, Pansare & Gauri Lankesh

An intelligence information received earlier in August, by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) that some people were planning to carry out terrorist activities in different parts of the state and have a cache of arms, led to unearthing of a right wing group. One of the arrested person was a member of Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti. The case has brought to fore the functioning of right wing groups in the state.

Moreover, the ATS had also been provided mobile numbers of the suspects after which the police began their inquiry.

Based on the intelligence, the agency swooped down on the Nalasopara residence of suspect Vaibhav Raut, a 40-year-old real estate agent, on August 07 and later stumbled upon a cache of arms and ammunition.

According to the police sources, Vikhroli Unit of the ATS had received an information on August 07 that there are certain people whom are conspiring to have some terrorist activities at Pune, Satara, Solapur, Mumbai and Nalasopara. The police had also received mobile numbers of the suspects. The informant also told the police that these people have some weapons stored with them at Nalasopara. At least 20 crude bombs were seized from the searches at Nalasopara.

Raut's arrest led to the arrest of two other accomplices of his - Sharad Kalaskar (25) and Sudhnava Ghondhalekar (39). While Kalaskar was picked up from Nalasopara, Ghondhalekar, who originally hails from Satara, who was nabbed from Pune.

The police during their searches also seized gelatin sticks and chits containing literature on how to prepare bombs.

While the ATS is certain that the ammo was meant for a terror activity, they are yet to ascertain the exact plan of the hardliners.

"Those arrested seemed to be trained in surviving police questioning and are tough nuts. We need to know for what purpose the seized bombs were to be used, where they were to be used, where were they sourced from, where did the accused persons received training and whether they are associated with any gangs or terrorist groups. We also need to know who is the head of the group which we suspect is spread across several states," said an ATS officer.

As per state ATS chief, Atul Chandra Kulkarni the accused persons had adopted tactic of using layered SIM cards where each SIM card was purchased on a different name and then it was subsequently layered via various channels to ensure that they could remain anonymous for a long time.

The arrested trio are also being questioned if they have any linkages with the murders of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and journalist Gauri Lankesh. "In the past too there have been instances wherein right wing groups were found involved in criminal cases and hence possibility of the accused held in the current case being involved in earlier cases is being probed," said another police officer.

NALLASOPARA ARMS SEIZURE CASE

August 10, 2018 The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrests Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar from Nallasopara and Sudhanva Gondhalekar from Pune on the charge of conspiring to carry out a terror attack, and seizes 20 crude bombs.

August 10, 2018 Sanatan Sanstha clarifies that Vaibhav Raut is not associated with the organisation.

August 10, 2018 Raut’s relatives claim he has been falsely dragged into the case and the arrest has been made without any concrete evidence by the ATS.

August 11, 2018 ATS recovers a second cache of arms and ammunition from an undisclosed location after interrogating Sudhanava Gondhalekar.

August 13, 2018 ATS recovers more firearms and a sizeable chunk of equipment from Nallasopara.

August 14, 2018 ATS scans call detail records of the past one year of all the three accused.

August 15, 2018 Vaibhav Raut’s wife Laxmi alleges, ATS might have planted incriminating material at her residence and claims her residence was clean and free from any kind of explosives.

PROFILES OF THE ACCUSED

Vaibhav Raut 
Who is claimed to be in the real estate agency business resides with his mother,wife and two children. He is also acknowledged for his role against preventing cow slaughter in his locality due to which he faced legal action in 2014. Raut was arrested over ‘Gauraksha’ and his supporters called for a Nallasopara bandh at that time.

Sharad Kalaskar 
is from a village near Daulatabad fort of Aurangabad, and had left for Kolhapur five years back. He was living with his parents, younger brother and his married sister in Aurangabad and had completed his education till standard XII. Kalaskar wanted to start an industry by selling off the seven acre of land his family owns. After his family opposed this idea, he moved to Kolhapur about five years back.

Sudhanava Ghondhalekar 
Satara native Gondhalekar and a group of youth were booked in 2014, for pelting stones at an MSRTC bus at Powai Naka area in Satara. In 2016, Gondhalekar along with a group of young men allegedly misbehaved with a police team while they were on their mission to save cows and a case was registered in this regard by the Satara Police. Gondhalekar is the co-founder of design partnership firm which was set up in Satara in March 2016.

CACHE OF ARMS FROM RAUT’S RESIDENCE

August 11 
Recovery by the ATS: 10 country-made pistols with magazines, 1 airgun, 10 pistol barrels, 6 pistol magazines, 6 partially-made pistol bodies, 3 partially-made magazines, 7 partially-made pistol slides, 16 relay switches, 1 trigger mechanism, 3 nine-volt batteries, several springs of different lengths, chopper, steel knife, many partly-made firearms parts, torches, batteries, hand gloves, drill machine keys, toolkit, 6 number plates of vehicles, CDs, pen drives, hard disks, handbook for making explosives, relay switch mechanism, circuit drawings, printouts on explosives and mobile switches.

August 13 
Recovery from Nallasopara area: 5 country-made pistols, 3 incomplete pistols, 11 9mm cartridges, 30 7.65 cartridges, Scores of loose parts of firearms (Springs, Trigger etc.) Recovery from Pune area: 1 Laptop, 6 Hard Disks, 6 Pen Drives, 9 Mobiles, Several Sim cards, 1 Wifi Dongle, 1 Motor Car, 1 Motor Cycle, Scores of Documents/Papers.

August 15 
2nd recovery from Nallasopara area: 1 Laptop, 1 CPU, an Innova car, an air pistol, notebooks, diaries, mobile phones, sim cards, and other important documents were also retrieved by the ATS. 

BLAST FROM THE PAST

2009 
A blast occurred near a church on the eve of Diwali in Margoa. Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, who were associated with Sanatan Sanstha, were killed when a bomb went off from the explosives they were allegedly carrying on a scooter. The NIA later filed a chargesheet against 11 people from the outfit, including the victims, Patil and Naik. Those who remained absconding were Sarang Akolkar (an accused in rationalist Dabholkar’s murder), Jayaprakash aka Anna & Rudra Patil.

2008 
A low-intensity blast took place at Vishu Bhave auditorium in Vashi on May 31, followed by a low-intensity blast at Gadkari Rangayatan, a theatre in Thane, on June 4. It was hosting the play Ámhi Pachpute’. Cops also recovered a live bomb from Cineraj cinema in Panvel.

2006 
A blast took place in the house of a retired executive engineer of the irrigation department and it claimed two lives and left three seriously injured. In the blast, Naresh Rajkondwar and Himanshu Panse — believed to be involved in the preparation of the bomb — died on the spot, while their cronies Yogesh Deshpande, Maruti Wagh and Gururaj Tupttewar were injured. A search of the house yielded a live pipe bomb under a sofa along with bomb-making material. The police suspected a right-wing group behind the blast.

MALEGAON BLASTS 2008

September 29, 2008 At least six people were killed and over 70 injured in bomb blasts in a busy market area in Malegaon.

October 24, 2008 Police arrested 3 people in connection with the blast; Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu.

November 5, 2008 Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested Lt Col Prasad Purohit for allegedly supplying money and explosives. 

January 20, 2009 and April 21, 2011: 14 chargesheeted by Maha ATS before special MCOCA court in city; the list included Pragya Thakur, Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Sameer Kulkarni, Rakesh Dhawade, Sudhakar Dwivedi aka Dayanand Pandey, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Pravin Takalki.

July 31, 2009 A special MCOCA court drops charges against all 11 accused in the case saying none are part of an organised crime syndicate.

July 19, 2010 Maharashtra ATS receives a major boost after the Bombay High Court reinstates MCOCA against the 11 accused.

April 1, 2011 Investigation is transferred to the NIA by the state government.

April 15, 2015 SC sets aside the Bombay HC order, and drops the MCOCA charges, stating there is hardly any evidence against the accused in the previous cases.

May 13, 2016 NIA files a second chargesheet, drops charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and three others for lack of evidence against them. Lt Col Purohit and others accused will continue to be charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

August 23, 2017 After spending nearly nine years in prison, Lt Col Purohit walks out of the Taloja Jail on bail.

December 27, 2017 The special NIA court drops the stringent MCOCA charges against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur & Lt Col Prasad Purohit, as well as four others. Instead, it charged them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and several sections of the IPC.

Compiled by DNA – Research N Archive