Business houses under ATS radar for funding Hindu terror group

Sumir Kaul

Mumbai, Nov 19 (PTI) The probe into how Hindu outfits
accused of terrorism had links with some Army men brought a
few business houses under the scanner of Maharashtra's ATS and
Central Security agencies investigating the finances of the
group allegedly responsible for Malegaon blast.

Sources attached with the probe said that a religious
leader from Southern Gujarat was one of those who collected
funds from the business houses.

Working on the chain of events about finances of the
Abhinav Bharat, a little know saffron outfit allegedly
involved in the September 29 Malegaon blast that left six
people dead, sources said names of some of the business houses
in Maharashtra as well as Gujarat cropped up.

A check was being done whether the business houses were
aware about the end use of funds. "We have questioned some
of them and we are working to ascertain as to how much of
money had been handed over to the saffron outfit," a senior
probe official said on the condition of anonymity.

The names of the business houses were not divulged for
security reasons.

The money was generally collected by a self-styled
religious leader hailing from Gujarat and efforts to seek his
custody had not fructified so far, they said.

While officially there is no word except an indication
from Maharashtra Director General of Police A N Roy earlier
this week that a religious leader may be involved, those
investigating the matter said it was not possible to reach the
religious leader, who enjoyed a lot of public support in the
area.

The sources said it was now evident that a self-styled
Godman could be having a role for financing a virtual
parallel terror network within the country.

These leaders have also been allegedly involved in other
hate-crimes including attacks on Christan's in Gujarat one
year back, they said.

To a question as to why this self-styled Godman was not
being detained for questioning, the officials indicated that
the Gujarat Police was not that cooperative on this issue.
"Furthermore, we cannot go alone as we will have a tough time
in tackling the tribals in the area who are his followers," a
senior official said.

The sources said some business houses in Gujarat and
Jammu had also come to the notice of sleuths during the
investigations and the same would be probed at an appropriate
time.

Dayanand Pandey, a self-styled Godman arrested in Kanpur
in connection with Malegaon blast, played a key role in
hatching the conspiracy behind the blast. He is also
alleged to be one of the key persons who used to arrange
finances for giving military muscle to the Saffron parties.