Narendra Dabholkar's daughter Mukta, NCP leader Jitendra Awhad, Shyam Manav on right-wing group's hit list, says ATS

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday revealed that Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar is on the hit list of right-wing extremists. The report also named social activist Shyam Manav and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad, and others as targets.

Dabholkar, an anti-superstition activist, was killed by two assailants in Pune in 2013.

The ATS on Friday told a sessions court that suspected right-wing activist Avinash Pawar had carried out a reconnaissance of several persons (including those named above) who were on the target list of the group to which he belonged, for “speaking against the Hindu religion”.

The ATS had arrested Pawar and four others in connection with the seizure of explosives and arms from several parts of Maharashtra earlier this month.

He was the fifth person to be arrested in the case. They were allegedly plotting to carry out blasts in the state, it has said. According to the ATS, Pawar had carried out reconnaissance of Mukta, Manav, Awhad and a few others.

Meanwhile, according to  Free Press Journal reported  the protection of Mukta and Hamid Dabholkar and also of Megha Pansare (daughter-in-law of Govind Pansare, who was also killed by right-wing activists) has been increased by the Maharashtra government.

Commenting on the revelation by the Maharashtra Police a sessions court in Mumbai Awhad said, “They can eliminate a person, not his thoughts. My thoughts will continue to live on. I have been following a secular and progressive ideology for the last 35 years since I left school. If somebody is angry because of my ideology, it is not my fault,” Awhad told PTI.

“If somebody does not agree with me, it is not my fault. I have been against those spreading communal hatred all my life,” he added.

Reacting to the development, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said a similar pattern was observed in Karnataka, where people with intellectual and progressive mindset were on the hit-list of a particular right-wing Hindu group. “Why are the masterminds of this plot still at large, and not been interrogated yet?” he asked.

With inputs from PTI