Police security for activists, politicians on 'hit list' of Nallasopara explosives case accused

The Maharashtra police Tuesday said it has given instructions to its unit commanders to assess the threat perception and provide necessary security to the activists and politicians on the hit list of the accused arrested in the Nallasopara explosives seizure case.

"We have issued instructions to the police commissioner offices and police superintendent offices to assess the threat perception and provide security to these activists and political leaders," a senior police official said.

The unit commanders will analyse the threat perception and accordingly provide security to these people, he said.

The Maharashtra ATS, which is probing the Nallasopara explosives seizure case, had told the sessions court that one of the arrested accused, Avinash Pawar, had carried out reconnaissance of several people, including Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of slain rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, social activist Shyam Manav and NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad. The accused had also monitored their day-to-day activities, the police had said.

The Maharshtra ATS has arrested at least 10 people since August 10 from various parts of the state and seized huge cache of explosives and arms from the accused.

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.