Mumbai, Sep 19 (TOI): The arrest of Sameer Vishnu Gaikwad (32) on Wednesday, a Sanathan Sanstha member, in connection with the murder of veteran Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare, has reignited the demand to ban the right-wing organization.
The first recommendation to outlaw the organization had come from the then state ATS chief Hemant Karkare following the involvement of its several members in three bomb blasts in Thane and Vashi in 2008. The police had put Gaikwad's phones under surveillance and this led to his arrest in the murder case. On September 6, 2008, TOI was the first to report on the proposal to proscribe the outfit that the ATS had sent to the state government.
The proposal with some more information was dispatched again in September 2009. In 2011, ATS chief Rakesh Maria sent another revised proposal to ban the outfit, citing instances of the involvement of its members in several cases. The file was sent from the state government to the Centre but no decision was taken on it.
On Friday, Maria, now DG state Home Guards and Civil Defence, confirmed sending a proposal to ban the outfit but refused to comment further. Former Congress minster and MLA Naseem Khan demanded a ban on the outfit.
"Two of their members were killed while carrying a bomb that was to be planted in Goa. The organization should be banned immediately and those connected to it must be investigated thoroughly," said Khan. On October 16, 2009, a motorcycle blast near Margao station, Goa, killed two Sanathan Sanstha members Malgunda Patila and Yogesh Naik. In 2008, ATS had arrested six persons including two Sanstha sevaks, Ramesh Gadkari and Santosh Angre (20). They were accused of making and planting bombs at three places in Thane, Vashi and Panvel.
A play 'Amhi Pachpute' was to be staged at a Thane theatre where the bomb exploded. Sanathan Sanstha had protested against the play, saying that it showed Hindu gods and goddesses in a "poor light".
While the court acquitted Angre, it convicted Gadkari and his associate Vikram Bhave in the case. Pansare (82) was shot near his residence in Kolhapur on February 16 when he and his wife Uma were returning from their morning walk. Pansare succumbed to three bullet injuries on February 20 in Mumbai.