Sanathan Sanstha hits back

Mr Varthak said in a press conference that both Gaikwad and Patil were never involved in terror activities. “As we have faith in the law of the land, we appealed to Patil to surrender after the police filed a case against him. Both of them will be found innocent once the ongoing case is over in the court,” he said.

Varthak said that Patil had not been in touch with Sanathan Sanstha for almost the last seven years and therefore the Sanstha appealed to him through media to surrender before the police assuring him of their support. The Sanstha would ignore them if they are found guilty of charges levelled against them, he said adding that the Sanstha would not consider them as criminals until they were charged.

Several permanent members of Sanstha have been subjected to interrogation by the police after incidents like Goa blasts, killing of Narendra Dabolkar and Govind Pansare. Unfortunately, the Sanstha was being looked at with suspicion and its members are now worried. For self-defence, the Sanstha is involved in training youth in judo and lathi techniques and not teaching terror activities, said Mr Varthak.

He agreed that his organisation was collecting information about the activities of Dr Dabolkar’s organisation but never resorted to killing him. The Sanstha never believed in resorting to such acts, he insisted. The name of Sanstha was dragged into controversy soon after some miscreants gunned him down. A planned conspiracy is being hatched to brand Sanstha as a terror organisation by linking it to terror activities, he regretted. Instead of demanding the arrest of those who killed Dr Dabolkar, a demand for banning of Sanstha is being made unfortunately, he added.