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Vaibhav Raut’s arrest: How is Nallasopara locals reacting?

Local supporters of Raut remember him as a spiritual man and cannot believe that he would be a part of a plan to spread violence

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Nallasopara locals protest against Vaibhav Raut’s arrest
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According to some police sources, the trio were planning to create some chaos and were indulged in activities posing serious threat to internal security of the state.

The accused and some other persons were at police radar for a while and they caught immediate police attention after the arrested trio used to layer their sim cards to stay anonymous and hidden from police authorities.

Police sources say that Raut is an Hindu activist and anti cow slaughter activist. He stayed in Bandar Ali area of Nalasopara west and was into real estate business for a long time.

Local supporters of Raut remember him as a spiritual man and cannot believe that he would be a part of a plan to spread violence. Raut was also booked in 2014 for his stand against cow slaughter and thereafter he is said not be in good terms with the local administration and the police authorities.

Vaibhav's wife alleges coercion from the ATS to establish that her husband is a terrorist.

"Firstly, we all were locked inside a room for some hours and also the ATS seized our phones. I agree that Vaibhav's agitation against cow killings made his relations with local police a bit bitter but that does not mean that the ATS, the media and other institutions directly calls him a terrorist. I do not know about the other arrested in the case but if at all there is any accused, he should be punished" alleged Lakshmi Raut (39), wife of Vaibhav Raut.

Laxmi is also alleging that the law enforcement agencies are indulging in custodial torture.

"I have also heard that he is being inflicted to custodial torture and the ATS is now even permitting me to meet him. The way, ATS is operating in unprofessional and unethical manner is clearly not tolerable and for all this reasons, ATS should be answerable and accountable for all what has been done by them." added Lakshmi.

"I am acquainted with him for a long time and as far as I know him, he is a secular individual but his only objection was against cow killings and for this, he stood firmly and used social media and other public platforms extensively." said Diptesh Patil, friend and neighbor of Raut.

A childhood friend and Raut's family friend Shah Rukh Shaikh said, "For some time, he was not in touch with me and I had no idea what exactly what he was up to and what he was doing inside his house and his shop. There is definitely a sense of insecurity and an environment of fear in the vicinity after the news of arrest came up in the media."

Raut's lawyer is bit more cautious about explaining his role in the weapons seizure.

"The ATS has not yet clarified from where their recent seizures have been made and their silence over this matter is building more suspicion and we demand a clear explanation from the ATS. My clients are dragged into this mess and the ATS is deliberately trying to link the the matter with the murder cases of Gauri Lankesh, Narendra Dabhokar and Govind Pansare. There is no concrete evidences and also no documents have been provided by the ATS so we are now trying to clear the charges of unlawful activities and other charges slapped on them by the ATS." said advocate Sanjeev Punalekar who is the defense lawyer of the arrested accused.

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