by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Mumbai : A Mumbai court on Saturday remanded in police custody till August 31 an accused arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in connection with a terror plot unearthed after seizure of an arms cache, official sources said on Saturday.
The accused, Avinash Pawar, 30, an employee with a prominent government ship-building company, was nabbed from Ghatkopar in north-east Mumbai late on Friday night and was produced before a court on Saturday afternoon.
Pawar has been charged under the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosives Substances Act, Explosives Act, pertaining to terror, criminal and terror conspiracies.
Seeking his remand, the ATS contended that he was linked with Hindutva organisations since over two years and the police had recovered a computer CPU, mobile phones and other articles from his home.
The investigators want to probe his exact role in the terror plots targeting Mumbai, Pune, Solapur and Satara, which came to light after the interrogation of those arrested following the Palghar swoop on August 10 and whether Pawar got weapons or explosives training.
Pawar’s is the fifth major arrest after the Nala Sopara (Palghar) crackdown leading to the recovery of bombs, explosives, arms and ammunition that were allegedly intended for the terror strikes around important festivals.
Besides Pawar, the ATS has arrested Hindu right-wing activists Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhnava Gondhalekar and a former Shiv Sena corporator, Shrikant Pangarkar, from Palghar and Pune.
According to the investigators, all of them are linked with prominent Hindutva groups in Maharashtra.
The ATS is exploring a multi-state right-wing terror network, probing their links with right-wing organisations in other states like Uttar Pradesh and Assam, and suspected connections with the sensational killings of several rationalists like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M. M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Mumbai : Four days after busting a terror plot involving some Hindu right-wing activists in Palghar, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) has found a mini arms making unit and is now probing their links in Uttar Pradesh and Assam, official sources said on Monday.
On Friday, the ATS created a sensation by claiming to have unearthed a terror plot targeting Mumbai, Pune, Satara and Solapur ahead of Independence Day celebrations and the upcoming Bakri Eid festival.
In the ATS swoop, three right-wing activists were arrested – Vaibhav Raut, 40, Sharad Kalaskar, 25, both from Nala Sopara in Palghar, and Sudhanav Gondhalekar, 39, from Pune.
Over a dozen other associates or suspects have been interrogated to ascertain their connections in other parts of the state or outside and certain email exchanges between the accused with references to Uttar Pradesh and Assam shall be probed.
Continuing the raids and probe over the weekend in Palghar, around 60 km north of Mumbai, the ATS has found a mini arms production unit and seized at least five country-made pistols, three incomplete pistols, 11 cartridges of 9 mm pistols and 30 cartridges of 7.65 mm pistols, springs, triggers and other material.
In the Pune raids, the ATS seized a laptop, six hard disks, five pendrives, nine mobiles and many SIM cards, a WiFI dongle, scores of documents and papers, besides a car and a motorcycle.
During the raids in Palghar on Friday, the ATS seized 20 crude bombs and material that could be used to make at least two-to-four dozen more bombs.
The seizures included 22 non-electronic detonators, 1,500 gm of explosive powder, wire bundles, resistors, transistors, 10 batteries of six volts each and a connector, multimeters, switches and circuits, connectors, gelatin sticks, two bottles marked as ‘poison’, diagrams and literature, all of which have been sent for forensic analysis.
While Raut is described as a prominent ‘gau-rakshak’ and linked with Hindu Janjagran Samiti, Gondhalekar is connected with the Shri Shivpratisthan, spearheaded by the controversial 85-year-old Sambhaji Bhide alias Bhide Guruji.
Charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the trio was produced before a Mumbai Sessions Court and presently remanded to police custody till August 18.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
Ramesh Shah
Lucknow : Gorakhpur terror funding mastermind Ramesh Shah has been arrested in a joint operation by the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra Police, an official said on Thursday.
The arrest was made from Pune on Tuesday and he is being brought to Lucknow on transit remand.
Inspector General of ATS Aseem Arun said that soon after his arrival, Shah would be produced in an Uttar Pradesh court and taken on remand for further interrogation.
Six persons involved in criminal conspiracy and distributing money into various bank accounts on the instructions given by a Pakistani handler were arrested on March 24 from Gorakhpur, an official told IANS.
The 28-year-old Shah was the kingpin of the gang.
On his instruction, the ATS official said more than Rs 1 crore exchanged hands between the Pakistani handler and terror operatives, with major funds coming from the Middle East, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala and distributed to various states.
Shah hails from Gopalganj in Bihar and has been operating a shopping mart in Gorakhpur for many years.
—IANS
