ATS questions Abhinav Bharat chief

Himani Savarkar, President of Abhinav Bharat, was questioned at the ATS cell in Pune and let off with the instruction that she could be summoned again if required.

Himani Savarkar, President of Abhinav Bharat, has been questioned for over three hours by ATS for the first time after almost all the accused arrested in connection with Malegaon blast are affiliated to the organisation, sources said.

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Savarkar, who heads the self-styled outfit since April, was questioned at the ATS cell in Pune and let off with the instruction that she could be summoned again if required during the course of investigations.

Over ten accused including Lt Col S P Purohit, Sadhwi Pragya Singh Thakur, ex-army man Ramesh Upadhyay and Swami Dayanand Pande were arrested in connection with the blast.

Sources in the ATS said since the investigations had shown that almost all accused in the Malegaon case had an affiliation with the AB, it was imperative that Savarkar was questioned in the case.

Savarkar who has been in the forefront of the drive to collect financial aid for the Malegaon blast accused for their legal defence, is the daughter of the Late Gopal Godse, brother of Nathuram Godse, and married to the nephew of Hindu Mahasabha founder V D Savarkar.

Savarkar told her interrogators that AB was working for national integration and reforms in the British-oriented educational system in the country, sources said.

She also denied involvement of any of the accused members of AB in the Malegaon case, pointing out that the organisation did not believe in violence.