GOA DIWALI CROWDS WERE HINDUTVA TERROR TARGETS.

THE ACCIDENTAL Friday night explosion in Goa has blown the lid off what appears to be a major Hindutva conspiracy to precipitate communal riots by triggering a series of Diwali- eve blasts.

The police have raided the ashram of a Hindu right- wing outfit, Sanatan Sanstha, and detained at least two of its officebearers in connection with the blast.

The Sanstha has been linked with terrorist activities in the past as well.

On Sunday, the state government also set up a special investigation team to probe the Friday night blast. But the Sanstha has denied playing a role in the incident. Leaders of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) have also backed the outfit.

A bomb meant to be placed among Diwali revellers went off on the scooter on which it was being carried around 10 pm in Margao, 30 km from state capital Panaji, on Friday. One of the bombers, Melgonda Patil, was killed, while Yogesh Naik was critically injured.

The duo was scootering around Goa in the evening, placing bombs. They dropped off three bombs in the vicinity of Margao, but got stuck in a traffic jam at a Diwali venue -- with the fourth bomb on them.

" Even before they could plant the explosive, it blew up, possibly on their lap," said state home minister Ravi Naik.

The police defused the bombs that had already been placed. Together, the explosives were meant to cause maximum casualties among the Diwali crowd that had gathered to participate in effigy- burning competitions -- a local tradition.

Patil, the police said, was a fulltime ' pracharak' of the Sanstha who contributed to its mouthpiece Sanatan Prabhat as well. Naik used to deliver milk at the Sanstha's ashram in Ramnathi, 20 km from Panaji. Hospital sources said on Sunday that Naik had succumbed to his injures, but the police maintained that he was alive.

A day earlier, the police raided the Ramnathi ashram and detained ashram manager Virendra Marathe and Prithviraj Hazare and the editor of Sanatan Prabhat for questioning.

The police have also sent a team to Sangli, from where Patil hailed, to investigate the Sanstha's ashram there.

The special investigation team formed by the Goa Police is being assisted by the Maharashtra antiterrorism squad ( ATS). The ATS has been investigating Sangh Parivar terrorists behind last year's Malegaon blasts as well as the 2006 Nanded explosion in which two Bajrang Dal activists were accidentally killed while making bombs.

Patil and Naik's links with Sanatan Sanstha have led to the speculation that the organisation was planning a major strike on Diwali eve. This could have set off a nationwide reaction against Muslims, as any such attack would normally be blamed on Muslim fundamentalists.

Home minister Naik categorically blamed the attack on Hindutva terrorists linked to the Sanatan Sanstha. " The scooter in which the explosives were ferried belongs to activists from the Sanatan Sanstha.

It seems to be a clear attempt to create communal discord in the state," he said.

B UT THE Sanstha distanced itself from the blast. " Within half an hour of the blast taking place, a minister in Goa claimed that our organisation was involved. We find this very wrong," spokesperson Abhay Vartak said. " When no investigation has taken place, how can our organisation be blamed?" Vartak suggested Patil could have been a victim of the bomb blast, rather than the perpetrator.

Former CM and BJP leader Manohar Parikkar also jumped to the defence of the Sanstha, claiming there was nothing to prove its involvement. " The role of Sanatan Sanstha is not proved. Let their involvement be proved and I will make a statement," he said.

Parikkar also refused to accept the emergence of Hindutva terrorism, saying: " A real Hindu cannot be a terrorist." Residents at the Sanstha's Ramnathi ashram say Patil went to the blast site from the ashram. " Patil was a regular visitor to the ashram but used to live elsewhere. However, he shifted to the ashram eight days before the incident," he said.

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