Explosives haul case: Two remanded in police custody till Sep 17

A court here on Sunday remanded two men, arrested in connection with the seizure of explosives and alleged conspiracy to carry out blasts in Maharashtra, in police custody till September 17.

Vasudev Suryawanshi (29) and Liladhar, alias Vijay alias Bhaiyya Lodhi, (32) were arrested by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) from Sakri in the state's Jalgaon district on Saturday, a day after their detention.

They were produced before Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Padalkar on Sunday afternoon.

Seeking their remand, the ATS told the court that the accused had conducted a recce in Jalgaon and Nashik.

People opposing the Hindutva ideology and making anti-Hindu films were on their radar, it said.

The ATS said it also needs to find out whether the accused had conducted the recce along with the five arrested in the case earlier.

Three crude bombs, two mobile phones, pen drives and two number plates were recovered from Lodhi's residence, while five mini pocket diaries, a pen drive and three mobile phones were seized from Suryawanshi's house, the agency said.

Initial examination of the explosives recovered from Lodhi's house was conducted by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS), it said.

Prima facie, the report filed by the BDDS was positive and the explosives were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to find out the substance used in it, the ATS told the court.

The anti-terror agency said as per preliminary investigations, two cars and six motorcycles, which were stolen, were also seized from the accused.

The ATS has, so far, arrested seven persons in connection with the seizure of explosives from various parts of the state.

Last month, it had arrested Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhanwa Gondhalekar, Shrikant Pangarkar and Avinash Pawar in connection with the case.

Some of the accused were allegedly linked to radical Hindu groups, the ATS had said.

Among other things, they were planning to target a western music festival in Pune, it had said.