Sanatan Sanstha on the Maharashtra’s hit list

The home department is in the process of collating information on all terror outfits in the state, including the Sanatan Sanstha. The ministry is also investigating the role of the organisations which had a hand in bomb blasts which took place in the city in the recent past, home minister RR Patil said on Wednesday.

Speaking to a group of journalists from the Urdu press, Patil said that his department wanted to make a solid case against these outfits.

“We have always been committed to weeding out terrorism from the state and have chalked out an action plan on the issue. Information is being gathered against the outfits and their involvement in the blasts so that any action initiated against them can be defended in a court of law if any of these organisations make an appeal,” he said. When asked about the ban on the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Patil said that the ban was imposed by the central government after collecting proof from various states.

Members of the Sanatan Sanstha came into the limelight after a low intensity bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded in Malegaon on September 29, 2008. The Maharashtra ATS had alleged that members of the group were involved in these radical acts.

The police also claimed that Hindu radicals were involved in cases like the blast in the Gadkari Rangayatan hall in Thane, planting of a bomb in a Vashi theatre, and the Panvel and Nanded blasts.

The latest act allegedly by Sanstha members was the blast in Margao, Goa. Investigations revealed that Sanstha members, a few of them originally from Maharashtra, were involved.