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Goa blast: The role of a minister's wife
NDTV Correspondent, Monday October 19, 2009, Mumbai

Goa's Transport Minister finds himself fighting multiple pieces of information that seem to link his family to the blast on Friday that left one person dead.  
 
The minister's wife spends three hours every day with Sanatan Sanstha, the Hindu right-wing group that's accused of the blast.  The scooter used to trigger the blast belonged to Nishad Bakle, a man related to the minister.  
 
Sudhin Davalkar, the minister in question, issues these clarifications.  He says his wife volunteers with the Sanstha, and visits their ashram to meditate.  Davalkar also says the scooter used in the blast was sold by his relative a few months ago.  
 
Davalkar isn't the only one forced into public denials.  The Sanstha has condemned the blast and says that one of the two men who allegedly planted the bomb used to deliver milk to their ashram. That's where the connection ends, according to the group.    
 
But the Maharashtra police claims that groups like the Sanstha inhabit dual worlds:  publicly, they pose as cultural and religious organizations; covertly, they incite communal hatred.  
 
NDTV has learnt that last year, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, then headed by Hemant Karkare, had recommended banning the Sanstha after holding it responsible for blasts in Panvel and Thane.   "Sanatan Sanstha cases in Maharashtra have been chargesheeted. A decision has to be taken by the government," says K P Raghuvanshi, Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief, Maharashtra.  
 
The Sanstha says they cannot be blamed if members stray into violent acts.  At a press conference in Mumbai on Monday, its representatives said, "We don't condone violence".
 
What worries some is that given that both the police and the government felt the Sanstha was involved in last year's blasts, why was the organization not monitored more closely?  Intelligence reports suggest the group was also involved in communal riots in Sangli two months ago.
 
 
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Tags: Goa blast
Comments
Posted by Hindu on Oct 19, 2009
"All Hindu institutions are suspect. All citizens involved with any Hindu institutions should be profiled." Country where majority of the population is Hindu, suffering from few fanatics cross border and in house terrorism, such foul play and false information by government in the name of quick results gives great opportunity to clown like you to comment on Hinduism and add oil to the fire. First try to be simply %u201CModern%u201D in your mindset before commenting on anything. Your definition of "Modern India" shows your radical mindset and I am surprised how webmaster allowed such a serious comment. Webmaster, please be cautious at least what you allow people to read and start acting sensibly. People deserve to know the truth but with such incidents we should not allow people to question Hindu Religion which is the oldest and peaceful.
Posted by Omar Al Nahdi - Hyd on Oct 19, 2009
Whatever happened is over... Govt should take s severe act on this issue so that every muslim or hindu must think before creating such havoc, is it by blast or religion clashes..
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