Home minister RR Patil on Wednesday said in the state assembly that his department had evidence proving workers of Abhinav Bharat, a right wing organisation, guilty of making derogatory remarks against RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. An audio cassette seized by the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) from one of the Malegaon blast accused had the accused and his colleague using derogatory language while referring to Bhagwat.
“Abusive and derogatory language has been used in the cassette. The conversation also has reference about the use of chemical poison to eliminate a person. The chemical if put in some person’s footwear can kill the person in two to three days. But this reference comes much later in the tape and so it cannot be said that it was for Bhagwat,” Patil said.
Earlier, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member Jitendra Avhad had alleged that Abhinav Bharat and Sanatan Prabhat had hatched a plot to eliminate Bhagwat. “They wanted to eliminate the RSS chief for his alleged inefficacy to safeguard the Hindu interest. Bhagwat had also met the then ATS chief Hemant Karkare in this regard,” Avhad said, adding that the Hindu outfits were in touch with Pakistan’s ISI.
Patil assured the house that the home ministry was investigating the matter and appropriate action would be taken against those involved.
The home minister also reiterated that intelligence inputs about terror attacks had become a regular practice as the home department has received 52 alerts in 2008, 169 in 2009, and 35 so far in first three months of 2010.
