Narendra Dabholkar murder: Family pleased, Sanstha livid

The arrest of Virendra Tawade, of Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, and a staunch follower of Sanatan Sanstha, over the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar has brought some relief to his family members but the Sanstha has cried foul, saying it is an act to defame the organisation.

Meanwhile Congress has demanded that the organisation be banned, a proposal that was mooted by the then government.

While Dabholkar’s daughter, Mukta expressed pleasure over the progress of the probe, she said speedy trial should be conducted in the case. “The investigation agency officials have worked so hard and this is the result of their hard work. I heard yesterday about the arrest and I think (the murder) might be a big conspiracy and after this arrest officials will able to solve the conspiracy.”

Sanatan Sanstha’s spokesperson Abhay Vartak said, “Dr Veerendrasingh Tawade’s arrest is an act to defame the Sanstha under the BJP government. It is evident that though there have been sweeping changes in the political scenario both at the centre as well as the state levels, the persecution of the Hindutvavadis continues. Many pro-Hindu organisations have expressed their deep displeasure against this policy of the government.”

Defending Tawade, Mr Vartak said Manish Nagori and Vikas Khandelwal had earlier been arrested in connection with the Dabholkar murder case. Both are now out on bail. “It is a false claim that this is the first arrest in the Dabolkhar murder case. Nagori and Khandelwal had been previously arrested in the Dabolkhar murder case. Nagori had even dropped a bombshell by claiming that (former Mumbai police commissioner) Rakesh Maria had offered him `25 lakh to ‘confess’. This claim was not investigated, and now the two are also out on bail,” added Mr Vartak.

A few days back, the CBI raided Tawade’s house in Panvel and Sanatan Sanstha’s ashram nearby. It arrested Tawade late on Friday.

Meanwhile, former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday termed Sanatan Sanstha as a “dangerous” organisation and demanded a ban on it following Tawade’s arrest. Abhijeet Deshmukh, Media Coordinator, Maharashtra Congress said since investigation agency officials have got information about links between members of Sanatan Sanstha and the Dabholkar and Govind Pansare murder cases, “at least now we should ban Sanstha and their activities.”

A brief history Sanatan Sanstha was set up in the 1990s by Dr Jayant Athavale to “bring Hindus together” after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Initially, the low profile organisation was involved in teaching Hindu ideology. However, it has slowly opened its branches across the country by promoting hard-line Hindu ideology. The organisation wants to set up ‘God’s Kingdom’ with no constitution and elections. It is alleged the organisation teaches its followers weapon training in order to protect Hindus. In 2008, six persons owing allegiance to Sanatan Sanstha were arrested for planting bombs in auditoriums at Thane and Vashi and a movie theatre in Panvel. In 2011, two of the accused were found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in jail. Sameer Gaikwad, a Sanatan member is under arrest in connection with the murder of Communist leader Govind Pansare in 2015.