By IANS,
Pune : A leading Hindu organisation Wednesday denied allegations that one of its workers, who is now in police custody, was involved in the Malegaon bombing that killed five people in September.
“Sameer (Kulkarni) is a simple and upright person committed to Hindutva ideology and it is next to impossible that he would ever indulge in any terrorist activity,” Abhinav Bharat president Himani Deshpande told reporters here.
She accused the Congress party of using the ‘malicious case’ to defame Hindutva organisations to create confusion in Hindu society and divert their votes away from the parties of their choice.
“Abhinav Bharat is an organisation inculcating the values of patriotism, strong moral character and pride in Indian culture in the minds of children,” Deshpande added.
The Mumbai Police Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) detained Sameer Kulkarni and retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay from Pune last Saturday. They were interrogated under detention and finally placed under arrest Tuesday evening.
Among other things, the ATS has said that the two men were involved in imparting training to some activists of the right-wing Hindu Janjagriti Samiti (HJS).
Last week, three people, including a woman ‘sadhvi’ (Hindu missionary), were arrested from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh for their suspected involvement in the bomb blast in Malegaon, a town that has a strong concentration of Muslims. The blast left five people dead.
The three – Pragya Singh Thakur and her two associates Shamlal Sahu and Shivnarain Singh – are currently in police custody till Nov 3.