Mah Engineering Student arrested in Goa blast case

Goa police today arrested Dhananjay Ashtekar, student of electronics from Ichalkaranji Engineering college of Maharashtra, for complicity in the seizure of explosives from Sancoale area linked to Diwali-eve scooter blast case of Margao city that claimed two lives.

Said to be a member of the Hindu right wing outfit of Sanathan Saunstha suspected in the episode, 20-year-old Ashtekar was produced before a city court, which remanded him to police custody for 12 days to facilitate further investigation. With this, the number of arrests in connection with the blast related cases rose to three, police spokesman Atmaram Deshpande told UNI tonight.

Ashtekar, he said, hails from Khed-Rathnagiri and further interrogation would reveal his role in the alleged ''conspiracy'' behind the blast that rocked this international tourist destination, forcing even some village panchayats and political parties seeking ban of the hindu outfit.

Notably the police recovered unexploded gelatine sticks and IEDs from one of the trucks carrying huge effigies of demon mythological Narakasura before they were burnt on Diwali eve before a huge crowd, a customary practice at different places in Goa.

The sticks and other material were immediately diffused by the alert cops thus saving the precious lives of many in the religioius gathering at Sancole under Verna Police Station limits but the circuit triggered in Margao near the Grace Church killing two of the outfit's members.

A Special Investigation Team constituted for the purpose, along with the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Swuad had been working in tandem to unearth the conspiracy by going deeper into the episode.

-- (UNI) -- 11BY39.xml

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