Vaibhav Raut, 2 others sent to ATS custody till September 3

Mumbai: The special UAPA court on Tuesday remanded Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhanva Gondhalekar, and Shrikant Pangarkar in ATS custody till September 3, over the possession of explosives and weapons. ATS counsel Sunil Gonsalves informed the court that all the accused had planned to hurl bombs during the Sunburn music festival in Pune and were also involved in setting off a bomb outside a Kalyan theatre, where the controversial Hindi movie Padmaavat was being screened in January this year.

Gonsalves further argued that a list of targets has been recovered from the accused and links of the crime have spread to other states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. He also brought to the court’s notice that currently, there are a total of nine training centres which have been identified by the ATS, of which two are in Maharashtra, while the others are outside the state. He also named the people who were to be targeted.

The ATS counsel argued before Judge Sameer Adkar that Raut and Gondhalekar, two of the accused, were part of a conspiracy to target the Sunburn Festival held in Pune last year, as they believed it was against Hindu culture.

He also argued that a huge amount of electronic data had been recovered from the accused and they needed to confront them about the same. Some photographs have also been found from the CDs recovered from the accused, and they need to be questioned about them as well, the ATS said.

The investigating agency said it needed to find the people who were providing the accused training in handling of arms and ammunition, as well as those funding the operation. The accused had procured firearms from outside Maharashtra and, hence, ATS teams would now be sent to UP and MP to trace the suppliers.  “The provider of arms and the larger ring is yet to be established,” ATS officials said.

Investigators have also found notes in coded words that are yet to be deciphered. ATS officials said that the firearms were brought to Nalasopara from outside the state with the help of Shrikant Pangarkar, former Shiv Sena corporator from Jalna. Pangarkar funded the group and provided logistical support.

The lawyer for the accused, Sanjiv Punalikar, argued that procuring explosives does not attributed to unlawful activity. Later, the court extended the police custody of the four accused by seven more days.