New Delhi: The Maharashtra government has been suggested by the state police to include right-wing groups Sanatan Sanstha and Abhinav Bharat under the category of banned terrorist organisations, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday. The names of both the groups came up during the investigations of the Goa and the Malegaon blasts case.
"In the Goa blast case, the name of Sanatan Sanstha has come up and in Malegaon case of 2008, the name of Abhinav Bharat has come up during investigations. In the bomb blast case of Malegaon 2006, as per the investigation conducted by ATS Mumbai and the CBI, Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists were involved...
"The matter is still under investigation," Minister of State for Home Affairs Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.
He said that Maharashtra Police recommended the state government to include both the groups in the Schedule of Terrorist Organisations under Section 35 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA) 1967. SIMI is included as a terrorist organisation under the UAPA.
The minister said that name of "no specific organisation has been confirmed as yet in the investigations into the Samjhauta, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer dargah blasts cases.
"However, among the accused persons in these cases viz. late Sunil Joshi and Swami Aseemanad, Devendra Gupta and Lokesh Sharma, who have been arrested and chargesheeted, were reportedly earlier involved in the activities of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)."
"This was revealed during the course of investigation and also from the confessional statements of Swami Aseemanand," Singh said.
PTI