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Goa: Ramnathi villagers seek ban on Sanatan Sanstha

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Sanatan Sanstha

Panaji: Locals of Ramnathi in North Goa district where the Sanatan Sanstha is headquartered, have demanded a ban on the right-wing outfit and urged the state government to ensure that its ashram is shifted out of their village failing which they would intensify their agitation against them and their ‘sadhaks’ (seekers).

The villagers have given the state government a week’s time to ban the Sanstha or shift the ashram at Ramnathi saying that they would organise a rally and a public meeting at Ponda (taluka) bus stand if their demands are not met.

This is not the first time that the villagers have protested against the Sanstha based in Ramnathi in Ponda, known for a cluster of popular temples.

They had earlier done so after the 2009 bomb blasts when mastermind Gonda Patil and accomplice Yogesh Naik, both full-time members of the Sanstha, died while ferrying IEDs on their scooter to a Diwali gathering in Margao, located 35 km from Panaji.

Village sarpanch Shamila Lotlikar claimed that she has been approached by several locals with a demand that the ashram be shifted from Ramnathi following which she has appealed to the Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to do so immediately.

Ramnathi Yuva Sangh President Saurabh Lotlikar also sought to free the village from the “menace of Sanstha” after its members came under the scanner for alleged involvement in the murder of veteran communist leader and rationalist Govind Pansare in Maharashtra.

Sameer Gaikwad, a full-time seeker of the Sanstha, has been arrested in the Pansare murder case.

The Special Investigating Team (SIT), probing the murder of Pansare, suspects role of two more Sanstha members Rudra Patil and Sarang Akolkar alias Kulkarni, who are absconding in connection with the 2009 blast, in the case.

Rudra along with Sarang have been declared absconders by National Investigation Agency (NIA) since the Goa blasts.

Pansare was shot along with his wife near his residence in Kolhapur in Maharashtra on February 16. He succumbed to injuries four days later in Mumbai.

(PTI)

Goa CM rejects demand for ban on Sanatan Sanstha

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Laxmikant Parsekar

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Wednesday rejected a demand to ban Sanatan Sanstha, whose members are accused of killing leftist leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur in Maharashtra in February.

“There have been allegations against them (Sanstha) in Maharashtra, but as far as their functioning in Goa is concerned, there is nothing we have found objectionable. They have not created any controversy,” Parsekar told reporters at the state secretariat here.

The chief minister said a case against eight members of the Hindu right-wing organisation in connection with the 2009 improvised explosive device blast case in south Goa’s Margao town fell through because “concrete proof could not come out”.

While six Sanstha members were acquitted, two other accused, including Rudra Patil who is wanted in leftist Govind Pansare murder case, are still absconding.

The Goa unit of the Congress on Wednesday demanded a ban on state-based Sanatan Sanstha.

The right wing Hindu organisation was allegedly involved in spreading hatred and dividing the country on religious lines and should be banned, Goa Congress spokesperson Durgadas Kamat said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from St. Andre constituency, Vishnu Wagh, demanded a ban on the Sanstha, headquartered in Ramnathi village, 35 km from Panaji.

“In a democracy, there is no scope for violence. All those who try to use bullets to threaten the voice of opposition are terrorists, because they try to frighten the opposition. It is evident from the killing of Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi. The Sanatan Sanstha’s hand is evident in these cases,” alleged Wagh who is considered close to the chief minister.

Many top politicians, including some cabinet ministers in the BJP-led coalition in Goa, have backed the organisation in public fora.

The Sanstha, through statements issued in Panaji, has repeatedly rejected the charges that its members were involved in the attack on Pansare, even as a Special Investigation Team probing the murder arrested Sanstha member Sameer Gaikwad and is on the lookout for another member Rudra Patil.

(IANS)

Saffron terrorism: ‘Pansare murder suspect knew Goa blast mastermind’

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Rudra Patil

Panaji: Hindu right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha member Rudra Patil, a suspect in leftist Govind Pansare’s murder, was in regular touch with the mastermind of the 2009 Goa bomb blast, police said.

Patil, who has been on the run since the 2009 improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Goa, is one of the main suspects in Pansare’s murder, said the Maharashtra Police Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Police also said that Patil was in telephonic touch with 32-year-old Sameer Gaikwad, a member of the Sanstha, who was also arrested in the Pansare murder case.

However, a statement by the Sanatan Sanstha said: “Sameer Gaikwad, arrested by police in case of the killing of comrade Govind Pansare from Kolhapur, is a full-time seeker of Sanatan Sanstha, and we are sure that he is innocent.”

A probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the blast on Diwali at South Goa’s Margao town revealed that Rudra Patil was in touch with the mastermind Malgonda Patil, who died in the explosion.

On October 16, 2009, Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, both full-time members of the Goa-based Sanatan Sanstha, died while ferrying IEDs on their scooter to a Diwali gathering in Margao, located 35 km from Panaji.

The Sanstha has strongly opposed organisation of Narakasura Vadh celebration during Diwali, insisting it ends up glorifying the demon rather his slayer, Lord Krishna.

“Malgonda was putting the plan together. We believe he was taking instructions from someone,” an NIA official familiar with the probe told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

Founded by the United Kingdom returned clinical hypnotherapist Jayant Athavale, the Sanatan Sanstha is headquartered in Ramnathi, in Ponda, known for a cluster of popular temples.

The Sanstha has several thousand members, primarily from Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka, and also publishes a newspaper and a range of magazines and books.

Several top politicians, including some cabinet ministers in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led coalition cabinet have backed the organisation in public fora.

Pansare was shot, along with his wife, near his residence in Kolhapur in Maharashtra on February 16. He died from his injuries four days later.

(Agencies)

Journalist Nikhil Wagle gets threat from Sanatan Sanstha, rejects security cover

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Nikhil Wagle

Mumbai: Senior journalist Nikhil Wagle, who has been getting threat from the right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha, has rejected the security cover offered to him by the Maharashtra government.

The government has offered security cover to Wagle in view of increased threat perception to him in the wake of the arrest of a Sanatan Sanstha activist in connection with the Govind Pansare murder case.

“Last week, police officials came to me saying that government has decided to offer security cover in view of general threat perception. However, they did not specify whether it was because of the threat from Sanatan”, Wagle told PTI.

“I have been getting threats from Sanatan. Four years ago, Abhay Vartak of Sanatan (Sanstha) walked out of a programme I hosted. Even as recently as last week, Sanatan Prabhat (a publication of the outfit) carried an article warning me,” he said.

Sameer Gaikwad, an active member of Sanathan Sanstha, was arrested last week in connection with murder of slain rationalist Govind Pansare. He is being interrogated by Maharashtra police officials in Kolhapur.

82-year-old Pansare and his wife, Uma were shot at by two motorcycle-borne youths on February 16, 2015, near their home in Kolhapur. Pansare died four days later at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai while his wife survived the attack, suffering injuries that crippled her.

(PTI)

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