In shocking developments, the Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Gauri Lankesh murder case has discovered that four men linked to the Abhinav Bharat group, who are wanted for their alleged role in different terror attack cases, had trained suspects linked to the Sanatan Sanstha in making bombs at secret camps across India.
The four men who are all on the run are wanted for their alleged role in the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Dargah and Malegaon terror attacks, had conducted explosives training at secret terror camps organised at 19 locations across India for people linked to the Sanatan Sanstha.
According to submissions made by the SIT before a Bangalore court, seven people; three Sanatan Sanstha members arrested in the Gauri Lankesh murder case and four witnesses who attended these training camps, said that a “babaji” and four “gurujis” were present at the training camps.
The “babaji” has been identified as Suresh Nair of Abhinav Bharat. He is an accused in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case. Nair was arrested in November 2018, after being on the run for 11 years! Three others; Ramji Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and Ashwini Chauhan were identified as bomb experts who conducted training at the secret camps.
Kalsangra and Dange have been declared “proclaimed offenders” in the 2008 Malegaon blast case in which BJP’s Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya Thakur is also one of the accused. However, the SIT denied her involvement in the Gauri Lankesh murder case. In a statement, the SIT reportedly said, “SIT has not found in its investigation or mentioned in the charge sheet any link to Sadhvi Pragya, Malegaon blasts, Abhinav Bharat.” It added, “There is no evidence to suggest the same. No documents purporting the same have been submitted to the court.”
Meanwhile, both Kalsangra and Dange are also wanted in the Samjhauta Express blast case alsong with Ashwini Chauhan. The fifth bomb expert has been identified as Pratap Hazra of the Bhavani Sena in West Bengal. The five are alleged to have conducted training in camps spread across Maharashtra Gujarat and Karnataka. Men like Amit Degwekar and Amit Baddi, both key accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case attended these camps.
This points to the common thread connecting the murders of rationalists MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, and journalist Gauri Lankesh with right wing supremacist groups accused of involvement in terror attacks.