Tag: Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad

  • Five PFI members sent to Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad custody for five days 

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: A court here on Thursday remanded five activists of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in the custody of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad till September 26.

    They are accused of indulging in `unlawful activities promoting enmity among communities’ and `waging a war against the country’.

    The ATS arrested a total of 20 PFI activists from various places in the state on Thursday as part of the nation-wide multi-agency operation led by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

    Five of them were produced before a court here with the ATS seeking their custody for 14 days.

    The court, however, remanded them in the probe agency’s custody for five days.

    A total of 106 PFI activists were arrested on Thursday in 11 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.

    In Maharashtra, raids were conducted by ATS teams in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Aurangabad, Pune, Kolhapur, Beed, Parbhani, Nanded, Malegaon (in Nashik district) and Jalgaon, an official said.

    The anti-terror agency registered offences in Mumbai, Nashik, Aurangabad and Nanded under Indian Penal Code sections including 153-A (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 121A (conspiring to commit certain offences against the State) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), and provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

    MUMBAI: A court here on Thursday remanded five activists of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in the custody of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad till September 26.

    They are accused of indulging in `unlawful activities promoting enmity among communities’ and `waging a war against the country’.

    The ATS arrested a total of 20 PFI activists from various places in the state on Thursday as part of the nation-wide multi-agency operation led by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

    Five of them were produced before a court here with the ATS seeking their custody for 14 days.

    The court, however, remanded them in the probe agency’s custody for five days.

    A total of 106 PFI activists were arrested on Thursday in 11 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.

    In Maharashtra, raids were conducted by ATS teams in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Aurangabad, Pune, Kolhapur, Beed, Parbhani, Nanded, Malegaon (in Nashik district) and Jalgaon, an official said.

    The anti-terror agency registered offences in Mumbai, Nashik, Aurangabad and Nanded under Indian Penal Code sections including 153-A (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 121A (conspiring to commit certain offences against the State) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), and provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

  • Probe in activist Govind Pansare’s murder case shifted to Maharashtra ATS from CID

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday transferred the investigation into activist Govind Pansare’s murder to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

    A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was investigating the case till now.

    The probe into the case was transferred more than seven years after Pansare was murdered.

    A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sharmila Deshmukh said it was allowing the application filed by Pansare’s family members and transferring the probe to the ATS.

    The SIT was constituted in 2015 following a Bombay High Court order passed on a plea filed by Pansare’s family members seeking such a special team.

    Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015, in Kolhapur and succumbed to his injuries a few days later on February 20.

    The CID was probing the case and had arrested a few people.

    The activist’s family members last month filed an application in the high court seeking for the probe to be transferred to the ATS claiming that the SIT has not been able to make a breakthrough in the case yet.

    Senior counsel Ashok Mundargi, appearing for the SIT, told the court that it does not have any objection if the probe is transferred to the ATS, as that too is a state government agency.

    “We are agreeable. The ATS can be appointed and for continuation, a few officers from the SIT shall assist the ATS,” Mundargi said.

    When the court questioned as to which senior officer would be heading the probe, Mundargi said Additional Director General (ADG) was the senior most officer of the ATS and he would supervise the probe.

    Advocate Abhay Nevagi, appearing for Pansare’s family told the court that the masterminds behind the killing and the shooters are still unidentified and at large.

    “According to the SIT, there are around 40 more persons in the hitlist of the people behind Pansare’s killing. This includes his family members, the family of slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and Medha Patkar. We only want the masterminds to be nabbed,” Nevagi said.

    The court on Wednesday also refused to consider applications filed by three accused, arrested in the Dabholkar and Pansare killing case, opposing the probe to be transferred to another agency at this stage.

    ALSO READ | Govind Pansare murder case: Irked over probe, Bombay HC says state a ‘laughing stock’

    Both Mundargi and Nevagi opposed the application arguing that the accused persons have no say on which agency should be probing the case.

    Nevagi had earlier this week told the bench that whatever headway had been made into the killings of Pansare, rationalist leader Narendra Dabholkar, Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi, and journalist Gauri Lankesh, had been made by the ATS following arrests of some men in 2018 at Nalasopara in neighbouring Palghar district.

    In this case, the ATS had arrested Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar and Sudhanwa Gondhalekar.

    Kalsakar revealed during his interrogation that absconding accused Sachin Andure and Vinay Pawar were the alleged shooters in the Pansare case.

    The Pansare family hence sought for the probe to be transferred to the ATS.

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday transferred the investigation into activist Govind Pansare’s murder to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

    A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was investigating the case till now.

    The probe into the case was transferred more than seven years after Pansare was murdered.

    A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sharmila Deshmukh said it was allowing the application filed by Pansare’s family members and transferring the probe to the ATS.

    The SIT was constituted in 2015 following a Bombay High Court order passed on a plea filed by Pansare’s family members seeking such a special team.

    Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015, in Kolhapur and succumbed to his injuries a few days later on February 20.

    The CID was probing the case and had arrested a few people.

    The activist’s family members last month filed an application in the high court seeking for the probe to be transferred to the ATS claiming that the SIT has not been able to make a breakthrough in the case yet.

    Senior counsel Ashok Mundargi, appearing for the SIT, told the court that it does not have any objection if the probe is transferred to the ATS, as that too is a state government agency.

    “We are agreeable. The ATS can be appointed and for continuation, a few officers from the SIT shall assist the ATS,” Mundargi said.

    When the court questioned as to which senior officer would be heading the probe, Mundargi said Additional Director General (ADG) was the senior most officer of the ATS and he would supervise the probe.

    Advocate Abhay Nevagi, appearing for Pansare’s family told the court that the masterminds behind the killing and the shooters are still unidentified and at large.

    “According to the SIT, there are around 40 more persons in the hitlist of the people behind Pansare’s killing. This includes his family members, the family of slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and Medha Patkar. We only want the masterminds to be nabbed,” Nevagi said.

    The court on Wednesday also refused to consider applications filed by three accused, arrested in the Dabholkar and Pansare killing case, opposing the probe to be transferred to another agency at this stage.

    ALSO READ | Govind Pansare murder case: Irked over probe, Bombay HC says state a ‘laughing stock’

    Both Mundargi and Nevagi opposed the application arguing that the accused persons have no say on which agency should be probing the case.

    Nevagi had earlier this week told the bench that whatever headway had been made into the killings of Pansare, rationalist leader Narendra Dabholkar, Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi, and journalist Gauri Lankesh, had been made by the ATS following arrests of some men in 2018 at Nalasopara in neighbouring Palghar district.

    In this case, the ATS had arrested Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar and Sudhanwa Gondhalekar.

    Kalsakar revealed during his interrogation that absconding accused Sachin Andure and Vinay Pawar were the alleged shooters in the Pansare case.

    The Pansare family hence sought for the probe to be transferred to the ATS.

  • Malegaon blast: Another witness turns hostile, says ATS forced him to name RSS leaders

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Another witness in the 2008 Malegaon blast case told the trial court here on Thursday that the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) tortured and forced him to name RSS leaders during the probe.

    As the witness denied having given a voluntary statement to the ATS, Judge P R Sitre of the special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases declared him hostile.

    Of 222 prosecution witnesses examined in the case so far, 17 have turned hostile (refused to support the prosecution case).

    The witness told the court on Thursday that the ATS, which had probed the case initially, took him in custody multiple times and he was tortured.

    ATS officials forced him to name the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its leaders, he alleged.

    He was not an RSS member, nor did he know the name of any RSS functionary, the witness said.

    Earlier, another prosecution witness had told the court that the ATS forced him to name Yogi Adityanath (now Uttar Pradesh chief minister) and four RSS leaders.

    On September 29, 2008, six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a communally sensitive town in north Maharashtra’s Nashik district.

    The accused in the case include BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Sudhakar Diwedi, Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni.

    All of them are out on bail.

  • Maharashtra ATS arrests one more person in connection with terror module busted by Delhi Police

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested one more person in connection with the Pakistan-supported terror module busted by Delhi Police recently, an ATS official said on Sunday.

    The man, whose identity was not revealed by the ATS, was nabbed from Mumbra town in neighbouring Thane district on Saturday night after information received about him from Zakir Hussain Shaikh (45), an accused who was arrested by the ATS from Jogeshwari in Mumbai on Friday, he said.

    Based on information revealed by Shaikh, the state ATS conducted multiple raids and nabbed the man from Mumbra, the official said, adding that they were probing his role into the terror module.

    The Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Tuesday busted a ‘terror module’ with the arrest of six men, including two terrorists trained by Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI.

    The module was allegedly planning to carry out blasts across the country.

    Jan Mohammad Shaikh, one of the six suspects, is a resident of Dharavi in Mumbai.

    Zakir Shaikh, whose name cropped up during the interrogation of arrested suspects, was in touch with Jan Mohammed Shaikh, sources earlier said.

    A separate FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was registered against Zakir Shaikh in Mumbai.

    The ATS told a Mumbai court on Saturday that Zakir Shaikh was arrested in connection with a criminal conspiracy to carry out terror attacks using explosives in Maharashtra and elsewhere.

    He was in touch with one ‘Anthony’ from a “neighbouring country”, and the ATS wanted to find out who was this person and what was his role in the conspiracy, it had said.

    The court on Saturday sent Zakir Shaikh in the ATS custody till September 20.

     

  • Hiran death case: Policeman among two arrested by Maharashtra ATS

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested two persons, including a policeman, in connection with the alleged murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, whose body was found in a creek in neighbouring Thane earlier this month, an official said on Sunday.

    The arrests were made late night on Saturday, he said.

    The arrested accused were identified as Vinayak Shinde, a police personnel, and Naresh Dhare, a bookie, the official said.

    “Both the accused were on Saturday called to the ATS headquarters for questioning in connection with the case and later placed under arrest,” he added.

    Shinde is a convict in Lakhan Bhaiya fake encounter case and he come out from jail on furlough last year, he said.

    Their arrest came the day the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) handed over the probe into the Hiran death case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

    The state ATS was investigating the case till then.

    Hiran’s body was found on March 5, days after an explosives-laden vehicle was found parked near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s multi-storey residence ‘Antilia’ in south Mumbai on February 25.

    “The state ATS has so far interrogated several people, including police officials and the family members of the deceased.

    The arrest of these two persons is a major breakthrough in the case,” the official said.

    The NIA is also probing the explosives-laden SUV case and arrested assistant police inspector Sachin Waze.

    The ATS had earlier registered a case under IPC sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) against unidentified persons in connection with Hiran’s death.

  • ATS records statements of 25 people in Mansukh Hiren death case

    By ANI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, probing the death of Mansukh Hiren, has recorded statements of 25 people said an official on Friday.

    The ATS on Wednesday also confirmed that the diatom test report of the deceased businessman has returned positive.

    “Diatom test done at GMC is positive. However, ATS is sending the report to the forensic science lab (FSL) Madhuban, Haryana for confirmation. Meanwhile, the ATS is investigating the case as murder only,” said ATS officials.

    Diatom test is an important tool in the diagnosis of death in drowning cases.

    Hiren, the owner of the vehicle that was found containing explosives outside the house of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, was found dead on March 5 in Thane.

    The ATS will also be seeking custody of Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze, in connection with the investigation into the Mansukh Hiren death case, as per the top sources.

    The squad will oppose the anticipatory bail application of Sachin Waze in Thane Sessions Court today. Waze had moved the sessions court seeking anticipatory bail.

    Meanwhile, the NIA on Wednesday confirmed that the person, seen in a CCTV grab walking near Mukesh Ambani’s residence on the night of February 25 when an explosive-laden vehicle was found, was Sachin Waze.