Three people were planning to plant bomb in Pune music concert: ATS

The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has claimed that three people were planning to plant a bomb at a western concert in Pune in 2016 and 2017 and in Belgaum theatres which were screeing the movie Padmaavat.

Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhanwa Gondalkar were targetting the Sunburn festival in Pune, according to ATS sources. The ATS made these disclosures in a Mumbai court on Tuesday while demanding further custody of Raut, Kalaskar and Gondhalkar. The ATS argued that it needs their custody to decode the information recovered from Kalaskar’s computer. Some photographs have also been found in the CDs recovered from the accused , the ATS said.

The seized arms and ammunition were brought from states like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, besides from various parts of Maharashtra, it told the court. These men wanted to plant bombs at the music festival since they believed it was against Indian culture. On the other hand, they were opposed to Padmavaat as they felt it showed Hindus in a bad light.


The ATS has claimed that former Shiv Sena corporator Shrikant Pangarkar is supposed to have financed the bombing plot. The ATS sought a nine-day custody of the accussed saying that they needed to be taken to the various spots where they were supposed to plant the bombs.

The court, however, has given a seven-day custody to the accused. Incidentally, the Sanatan Sanstha had filed a case in the court saying that permission given to the music festival should be scrapped.

The Sanatan Sanstha has claimed that it has no connection with the nine arrested men but it has come forward to defend them.