By IANS,
Panaji/Mumbai : The Goa police Sunday formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the low-intensity blast in Margao, in south Goa, Friday night.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the blast a “dastardly act” and accused the home minister of settling political scores by interfering with investigations in the blast case.
The blast on the Diwali eve near Grace Church in Margao, a major town in South Goa, killed the two bomb carriers, identified as Sanatan Sanstha activists.
Senior police officials told IANS that no arrests have been made in the blast case so far. Superintendent of Police Om Prakash Kurtadkar has been appointed the SIT chief, which will spearhead the probe.
Meanwhile, a Goa police team has left for Sangli district in Maharashtra to interrogate three Sanatan Sanstha activists who were detained for the explosion of the improvised explosive device (IED) in Goa Friday night, authorities said Sunday.
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 of their counterparts here.
“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,” Ravi Naik said. Police sources said the team will also be questioning Patil’s family and his known associates in Sangli.
The Mumbai anti-terror squad (ATS) team which is in Goa to assist the local police in the investigation visited the scene of the blast Sunday. The Mumbai ATS is already 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.
The anti-terror squad team, in a joint operation with the state police raided a printing press operated by the Sanatan Sanstha in a joint operation, which lasted for two hours. Police were unwilling to speak to the media on the findings of the raid.
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 two bomb carriers Malgunda Patil and Yogesh Naik. Both subsequently died of their injuries.
The blast occurred at 9.30 p.m., when the duo on their scooter 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 named the two deceased, Patil and Yogesh 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.
Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar of the BJP has said Goa was increasingly becoming a soft target for terrorism and that the law and order situation was in a shambles.
“It appears that a political colour is being given to the case. The home minister should let the police investigate first before naming anyone,” Parrikar said, referring to the ongoing feud between Ravi Naik and a cabinet colleague, whose nephew was initially named as a suspect by the home minister.
Parrikar said the BJP wanted the police should go to the root cause of the blast. “If anyone is found guilty, be it Sanatan Sanstha or anyone else for that matter, they should be severely punished,” he said.