Right wing outfit member arrested by Maharashtra ATS, bombs seized
Mumbai, Aug 10: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a member of a Right-wing Hindu outfit and seized huge quantity of explosives from his residence at Nallasopara in Palghar district of the state, police said on Friday.
Vaibhav Raut, a member of the 'Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti', was apprehended from Bhandar Aali in Nallasopara West late on Thursday, an official said.
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"ATS sleuths raided his residence and shop where they found huge quantity of explosives, including crude bombs. Some literature was also seized," he said.
After taking Raut into custody, the ATS team returned to Mumbai, where he would be interrogated.
He is likely to be produced before a court on Friday afternoon, the official added.
In
a
statement,
Hindu
Janajagruti
Samiti
(HJS)
termed
Raut's
arrest
"Malegaon
part
II".
The
Malegaon
case
centres
around
the
September
29,
2008
bomb
explosion
near
Bhiku
Chowk
in
the
Muslim-dominated
Malegaon
town
of
Nashik
district,
which
killed
six
people
and
injured
101
others.
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"Vaibhav Raut is a daring cow protector. He was active through an organisation- Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti - dedicated to the protection of cows," HJS state organiser Sunil Ghanvat said, adding, "He used to participate in the programmes and agitations organised through uniting Hindu organisations under the aegis of HJS."
He, however, claimed that Raut had not participated in any of the programmes for the last few months.
"The incidents of needless harassment of activists of Hindu organisations to implicate them in false cases, etc are not new anymore. This has been amply proved through Malegaon case and the arrest of many innocent seekers of Sanatan Sanstha," Ghanvat said.
"Considering the news being disseminated today, it has created doubt whether the arrest of Vaibhav Raut is an instance of Malegaon part II," he said.