As the heady days of election 2014 are nearer than
anymore any far there is feeling that the early straw in the wind is heralding
a storm. The discharge of the six accused in Margao bomb explosion case raises
many questions and solves none raised earlier. On 21.30 hours of Friday 16
October 2009 two members of the Sanatan Sanstha in Margao, Goa, were “ferrying”
bombs on a scooter. Suddenly a bomb exploded near the Grace Church in the midst
of a Christian ceremony on the eve of the Hindu festival of Diwali. The earliest to react to the terror related
event was no other than the Home Minister of Goa Ravi Naik:
“They wanted to disturb a traditional Diwali-eve
event 'Narakasur' effigy competition in the heart of the town as the blast took
place only a few metres away from the competition venue." Within half an
hour the police recovered another bomb from Sancoale more than 20 kilometers
from the site of the explosion. Naik:
"We have recovered a mobile phone and other gadgets from the
place where both of the Sanstha activists were staying."1
Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik died in the blast.
Six others were arrested and charged with terrorism. Among the six there were 4
who had link with Sadhvi Pragya Thakur. Among the accused was Suresh Naik who
is brother of the deceased Yogesh Naik. The other accused is Virendra Marathe,
manager of the Sanatan Sansthan.
Two days later a photo from the scene of the blasts
appeared with the caption that the police were helping an injured. The obscured
image was carried in a report dated 18:
Obscured image
In the cleared image the appearance is different.
Cleared image
One point to note is that the corps is on the same
level as the feet of the police man. The
head could not have sunk at the feet unless there is a crater caused by the
explosion. The obscured image has finger tips within clinical gloves. What for?
The space around the font tire is such that there is no chance of the head and
the shoulder being left there. So the caption that the policeman was helping
the injured is incorrect. The neck and the head along with the uppermost of the
shoulders are not in the image. Does it mean that the photo most likely given
out to the press or allowed the press to carry was with the head and then it
was crocked in such a way the head, the neck and upper shoulders were cut out
to hide the identity? The police man is
shown lifting those parts which are supposed to be there but in the cleared
image are simply not there. They must have been there or else the police man
cannot be lifting the air. If this reading is cogent then the question is that
the covering up of the terror incident went under way right after the
explosion. If the upper part of the body is not there it is clear case of
hiding the identity with a premeditated purpose of tampering in the evidence.
This is possible because the police did not want to reveal the identity for
ulterior reason. In the Nanded blasts of 2006 and 2008 this has happened when
the police said that crackers had accidentally burst and short circuit had
caused fire in a biscuit carton.
Suresh Naik had bought the scooter from another
member of the Sanatan Sansthan, Nishad Bakle four years ago. Even sadhvi Pragya
Singh Thakur had also said that she had sold her motor cycle to Sunil Joshi
when in fact the vehicle was used by Ramji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange for
planting the bomb on 28 September 2008 at Bhiku chwok in Malegaon.
On Monday 30 December 2013 Judge Pradip Swaikar of
the Goa court discharged the six accused for lack of evidence. The acquitted
are Vinay Talekar, Dhananjay Ashtekar,
Prashant Ashtekar, Vinayak Patil, Prashant Juvekar and Dilip Mazgaonkar. The
government had transferred the case from Goa Crime Branch to National
Investigation Agency on 17 May 2010. The NIA seems to have created a hiatus
between what the earlier reports had said including what Naik had observed and
the actual verdict delivered. The NIA also said that four more accused were
absconding. Who were they, then? The FIR
338/09 dated 16/10/09 while the Case No.RC-07/2009/NIA-DLI was registered on
11/12/2009.
The government had failed to constitute special
court to try the case even after a year and naturally a session trial court
took another three years to deliver the above judgment. Of the 250 witnesses
the court had examined only 7 till October 13, 2010. Among them were two
Hospicio doctors who had attended the two, Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, whom
the police claim as “injured” and not dead.
Among those who had been present to see the spectacle of Narkasur Vadh were chief minister Digambar Kamat, Fatorda MLA Damodar Naik. Those who had planned the blasts were against not just the composite pre Christmas ceremony of Narkasur Vadh on the eve of Diwali but also the presence of the dignitaries. It is strange that the accusations were prima facie true and hence bail was not granted and then the final verdict came from the blue that all the accused were discharged for lack of evidence!
Even more confounding was that during the trial there was no mention of the fact that the accused and the dead belonged to Sanatan Sansthan! In fact the managing trustee of SS Virendra Marathe claimed : "The police had not found any participation of Sanatan Sanstha in this case. Even the court has not made any comments about the participation of Sanatan Sanstha. This point was never even raised during the court proceeding." 2
If the SS is not involved then will the hunt turn to IM in default?
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