Mumbai:
Goa's Transport Minister finds himself fighting multiple pieces of information that seem to link his family to the blast on Friday that left one person dead.
The minister's wife spends three hours every day with Sanatan Sanstha, the Hindu right-wing group that's accused of the blast. The scooter used to trigger the blast belonged to Nishad Bakle, a man related to the minister.
Sudhin Davalkar, the minister in question, issues these clarifications. He says his wife volunteers with the Sanstha, and visits their ashram to meditate. Davalkar also says the scooter used in the blast was sold by his relative a few months ago.
Davalkar isn't the only one forced into public denials. The Sanstha has condemned the blast and says that one of the two men who allegedly planted the bomb used to deliver milk to their ashram. That's where the connection ends, according to the group.
But the Maharashtra police claims that groups like the Sanstha inhabit dual worlds: publicly, they pose as cultural and religious organizations; covertly, they incite communal hatred.
NDTV has learnt that last year, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, then headed by Hemant Karkare, had recommended banning the Sanstha after holding it responsible for blasts in Panvel and Thane. "Sanatan Sanstha cases in Maharashtra have been chargesheeted. A decision has to be taken by the government," says K P Raghuvanshi, Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief, Maharashtra.
The Sanstha says they cannot be blamed if members stray into violent acts. At a press conference in Mumbai on Monday, its representatives said, "We don't condone violence".
What worries some is that given that both the police and the government felt the Sanstha was involved in last year's blasts, why was the organization not monitored more closely? Intelligence reports suggest the group was also involved in communal riots in Sangli two months ago.