Four arrested in Navi Mumbai church attack, CM Fadnavis informs House

Mumbai, Mar 24: A day after assuring that culprits of the Navi Mumbai church attack would be caught at the earliest, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the state Assembly here on Tuesday that four persons have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Fadnavis had yesterday assured that those responsible for the attack will be caught at the earliest and had directed the police to arrest the culprits within 48 hours.

The four arrested persons, identified as Rahul Patil (39), Anil Chavan, Laxman Sugvekar (21) and Mohmmed Tabrek Sheikh (19), have confessed to the crime, he informed the House. Patil ran a gambling den in the area which was raided by police on March 19.

He suspected that the church had complained against him, "so he planned the attack," the Chief Minister said.

A delegation of representatives from the Christian community had met Fadnavis at the Vidhan Bhavan yesterday.

The delegation members said the incident has spread fear among the community. They demanded constitution of fact-finding committees at the city, taluka and district level to curb rising incidents of attacks on places of worship of the minority community.

Replying to an adjournment motion by NCP legislator Jitendra Awhad in the Assembly, Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse had said yesterday that the government suspects the involvement of "foreign hand in the incident."

"There is a possibility of a political motive behind the attack. I also suspect a foreign hand. We will catch the culprits and the truth will be tabled on the floor of the House," Khadse had said.

PTI