'Congress government in Goa gave free hand to haters of Sanatan Sanstha'

PANAJI: With six members of the Sanatan Sanstha acquitted in the 2009 Margao bomb blast case, the right wing organisation said its innocence has been proved in the matter.

"The Congress government had given a free hand to the haters of Sanatan Sanstha to defame the organisation by needlessly involving our six seekers in the Margaon bomb blast case," Managing Trustee of the Sanatan Sanstha, Virendra Marathe said here.

A special court yesterday had acquitted six youths who were arrested in connection with the 2009 bomb blast case which had killed two people in Margao town on Diwali eve. The court found no evidence against these accused who were probed and chargesheeted by National Investigation Agency ( NIA).

The blast had pointed fingers towards a right wing Hindu organisation, Sanatan Sanstha, which is headquartered at Ramnathi village in Goa. It was raided several times after the blast.

Marathe said the seekers of Sanatan Sanstha had to undergo needless persecution for four years as the police investigation veered in a wrong direction.

"Unfortunately, four years of their lives have been wasted due to the stay in prison," he said.

Two accused - Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik - who were ferrying the explosives to a crowded spot in Margao town where the low intensity blast occurred on October 16, 2009, were killed in the explosion. Patil and Naik were linked to the organisation. The investigation was initially conducted by Goa Police and was later handed over to NIA.

"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," Marathe said adding, "This point was never even raised during the court proceeding."

"Therefore, we feel that innocence of Sanatan Sanstha proved after going through all legal processes. It is a slap on the face of haters of the organisation," he said.