The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday, revealed that the five members associated with the radical Hindu organisation Sanatan Sanstha, who were arrested by the team earlier this month, planned to plant explosives at the annual musical festival, Sunburn held in Pune in December 2017.
Four of the five accused were presented before a special court constituted to try Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act cases on Tuesday. The ATS team demanded extension of the remand custody of the accused, which was duly granted by the special court, reported Hindustan Times.
The fifth accused will be presented before the court on August 31.
ATS prosecutors claimed that two of the accused – Gondhalekar and Raut – believed that the music festival was “against Hindu culture” and thus, planned to attack the festival’s venue in Pune.
The ATS officials further stated that the five accused were also involved in throwing petrol bombs outside cinema halls during the screening of Hindi movie Padmavat. The accused also planned to attack persons who they thought were promoting activities “against the Hindu religion”.
The identity of the persons that the accused planned to attack has been kept secret due to security concerns.
According to HT report, ATS prosecutor told the special court that the accused had thrown away the weapons used for the attack at different places and that the team still had to recover them.