ATS gets 30 days to file a chargesheet

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has granted a 30-day extension for filing a chargesheet against the accused members of the Sanathan Sanstha in the Nalasopara arms haul case.

On Friday, the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) submitted an application before the NIA court, seeking an extension of 90 days for filing the chargesheet. The ATS stated since the plot was hatched in many states, it needed more time for investigation.

According to a senior official, " We have arrested eight accused in the case, but are yet to retrieve more information to probe the case. The NIA court on Saturday has granted an extension of 30 days to file a charge sheet."

Since the arrested accused in Nalasopara explosives haul have been linked to the killings of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar and journalist Gauri Lankesh, the Maharashtra ATS is likely to seek custody of the accused arrested in those two cases as well.

Meanwhile, the ATS is also trying to seek custody of Amol Kale, suspected to be the main conspirator in the Nalasopara arms haul case. Kale had planned to bomb the Sunburn Festival in Pune, to spread terror.

Vaibhav Raut, Sudhanva Gondhalekar, Sharad Kalaskar, Avinash Pawar, Shrikant Pangarkar, Vasudev Suryavanshi, Ganesh Kapale and Vijay Lodhi were the accused arrested in the case. Some of the arrested accused were allegedly linked to Hindu extremist outfits.

On Friday, the anti-terrorism squad submitted an application before the NIA court, seeking an extension of 90 days for filing the chargesheet. ATS stated since the plot was hatched in many states, it needed more time for investigation.