Goa police visit Sangli to quiz detained Sanatan activists

A Goa police team has left for Sangli district in Maharashtra to interrogate three Sanatan Sanstha activists who were detained in connection with the improvised explosive device explosion in Goa on Friday night, authorities said.

A Goa police team has left for Sangli district in Maharashtra to interrogate three Sanatan Sanstha activists who were detained in connection with the improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in Goa on Friday night, authorities said on Sunday.

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A Mumbai police anti-terror squad team has also arrived here on the request of police investigators here who are probing the blast case.

Police officers said they believed the bomb was meant for a Hindu gathering in Margao which the Hindu group, Sanatan Sanstha, bitterly opposes.

Malgunda Patil, who succumbed to injuries following the blast, hails from Sangli and had been living in Goa for nearly two years at the Sanatan Sanstha ashram, according to the police.

Speaking to reporters, Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik said the police team was sent to question the people detained by the Sangli police on the request made by their counterparts in Panaji.

"This Malgunda Patil was originally from Sangli. The police team is expected to find out more about his background. They will also question the persons we have asked to be detained in Sangli," Naik said.

Police sources said the team will also be questioning Patil's family and his known associates in Sangli.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai anti-terror squad (ATS) team is in Goa and is expected to visit the scene of the blast here and share intelligence with the investigating police officers.

The Mumbai ATS is probing three blast cases in 2008 allegedly involving Sanatan Sanstha activists in Thane, Navi Mumbai and Panvel and police officers here said their experience would help in probing the Goa blast.

On Diwali eve, an accidental explosion of an IED near a festive gathering near Grace Church in Margao, a major town in South Goa injured the two bomb carriers Malgunda Patil and Yogesh Naik, who subsequently succumbed to their injuries.

The blast occurred at 9.30 p.m., when the duo were caught in a traffic jam while ferrying the IED towards a crowded area, where revellers had assembled to watch the ritual burning of a Narakasura effigy, which is a tradition on Diwali eve here.

The police also detected and defused three other IEDs, two of which were found near the blast site and one nearly 25 km away in Sancoale, near the port town of Vasco, 35 km from the capital.

The police have booked the two deceased Patil and Naik under the unlawful activities prevention act and under other sections of the IPC for waging war against the country. The police have also detained four Sanatan Sanstha activists for questioning.