Gauri Lankesh murder: Maharashtra ATS finds explosives at suspect's house

Bengaluru: The Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad (ATS) early on Friday morning seized some explosives and eight crude country made bombs from the house of Sanatan Sanstha worker Vaibhav Raut from Nalasopara near Mumbai on an alleged input from the Special Investigation Team (SIT), Karnataka, which is investigating the murder of editor-activist Gauri Lankesh.

According to sources, the SIT had reportedly alerted the Maharashtra ATS about Raut, whose name allegedly figured in the diary of Amol Kale, a former Hindu Janajagruti Samithi (HJS) convener and one of the key accused in the Gauri murder case. The details of the diary, which is said to contain a lot of information linked to the murder, have reportedly been shared with the Maharashtra ATS. The Squad has reportedly recovered at least eight country-made bombs and raw material like gunpowder and detonators from Raut’s house and his shop, which is close to his house.

The Sanstha, meanwhile, denied that Raut is a member. “Reports of the arrested devout Hindu, Vaibhav Raut being a member of Sanatan are being falsely propagated by the media. Mr Vaibhav Raut is not a member of Sanatan; however he had been actively involved in numerous rallies and processions organised by devout Hindu organisations. Although Raut is not a seeker of Sanatan, we believe that any Hindu working for the cause of Hindutva and for Dharma, belongs to us,” Chetan Rajhans, spokesperson of the Sanstha has stated on the organisation’s website.