ATS: Arms haul accused wanted to target western music concert in Pune

Mumbai: Suspected right-wing activists, arrested in an arms haul case in Maharashtra, had planned to target a western music concert in Pune last year and were involved in hurling a petrol bomb outside a movie theatre near here, police told a court on Tuesday.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the police arrested five people in connection with the seizure of arms and ammunition earlier this month.

Four of them were produced before Sessions Judge Sameer Adkar after their police remand ended. The fifth accused is in police custody till August 31.

Giving an account of their probe into the case, the ATS told the court that two of the accused were part of a conspiracy to "target the western musical concert" held in Pune last year as they believed it "was against Hindu culture".

The anti-terror agency identified the accused as Vaibhav Raut and Sudhanwa Gondhalekar.

The arrested right-wing activists were also involved in setting off a bomb outside a theatre at Kalyan, in adjoining Thane district, where controversial Hindi movie "Padmaavat" was being screened in January this year, it said. The agency said they had identified the people the accused were planning to target. The accused had conducted reconnaissance of their targets, it added. The ATS, pleading for the extension of the remand, said a huge amount of electronic data had been recovered from the accused and they needed to confront them about the same.