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The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday claimed one of the accused arrested in connection with the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar spoke about raising an army of 15,000 armed men to fight anti-Hindu forces.
The agency alleged that Virendra Tawade, a member of Sanatan Sanstha, who has been arrested in connection with the murder, had sent emails to Sarang Akolkar, an absconding accused with a Red Corner Notice issued by the Interpol against him in the Goa blast case of 2009.
In these emails, Tawade spoke about formation of the army of 15,000 men who are armed and ready to fight anti-Hindu forces in the country, official sources said.
The sources said Tawade had even suggested that to Akolkar that money should be collected through donations and contribution and if it still fell short for procurement of weapons, then the men should resort to dacoity.
Tawade, who was arrested earlier this month, is in CBI custody and there was no means of verifying the CBI claims but his lawyer had contested allegations made by the agency in special court in Pune and also claimed that his client was innocent.
The sources claimed that Tawade communicated in code language in the emails with Akolkar like using books for guns and chocolates for bullets.
Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013 by two persons while he was on a morning walk in Pune. The CBI has reportedly identified six suspects in this case, including Tawade and Akolkar.
Meanwhile, the Sanatan Sanstha alleged that Tawde was being ‘implicated’ by the probe agency on the basis of false allegations levelled by a witness, who himself is facing criminal charges.
Spokesperson of Sanatan Sanstha, Abhay Vartak, addressing a press conference on Friday, said, “The witness presented by the CBI himself is facing charges of misappropriation of funds belonging to the Mahalaxmi temple in Kolhapur.”
The alleged scam was unearthed by the Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad and the district collector had indicted this witness in his report in 2012.
“However, he escaped from the clutches of law for four long years thanks to the political support,” Vartak said.
“Efforts to implicate an innocent person on the basis of false allegations of such tainted person put a question mark on CBI's credibility and is bringing disrepute to BJP government,” Vartak said.
The spokesman of the Hindu right-wing organisation, while referring to slain rationalists Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, said, “Our ideologies were different. They were against us and we had even filed defamation cases against them. However, this does not mean that we killed them.”
Refuting Sanatan Sanstha's allegations, the witness said that the outfit is trying to divert the focus from the main issue.
“They have been making these allegations for several years now and I have been refuting their charges,” he said.
”With these allegations, which are baseless, the reality (of Dabholkar murder) will not change and I won’t be scared of them,” he added.