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HomeIndiaGovernancePune Right-wing activist arrested for making bombs had nearly cut himself off...

Pune Right-wing activist arrested for making bombs had nearly cut himself off from the world

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Sudhanva Gondhalekar’s business partner of over 15 years says his behavior had changed and in the last two years he almost stopped using a cellphone.

Mumbai: Sudhanva Gondhalekar, one of the three persons whom the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested last week, ran his own business for more than 15 years. But his business partner has claimed that over the last two years, Gondhalekar had cut nearly all contact with him.

Gondhalekar, a Right-wing activist, is a director with the company CAD Point Private Limited, a computer graphics and programming firm based in Maharashtra’s Satara district, where he is originally from.

The 39-year-old was arrested from Pune, while 40-year-old Vaibhav Raut and 25-year-old Sharad Kalaskar were arrested from Nalasopara near Mumbai. A cache of crude bombs and other explosive items were found in Nalasopara. The ATS claimed to have averted terrorist attacks with the their arrest.


Also read: Saffron terror? Maharashtra ATS says arrest of trio helped avert attacks


Speaking to ThePrint, Gondhalekar’s business partner at CAD Point, Umesh Mote, said there had been a distinct change in his behaviour.

“In 2007-08, we started the Pune branch of our business and he started looking after the office there. After that, even in Satara, we had two separate offices in different areas. In the last 1.5 to 2 years, he had almost stopped using his cellphone. He would not take calls, and I always had to leave messages for him at the office,” Mote said.

The partners met just twice in the last one year — once during Diwali when Gondhalekar was visiting his home in Satara, and later in May this year to discuss the GST in relation to their business.

However, Mote hastened to add that Gondhalekar is “an excellent man” with a clean record, and it is difficult to believe everything that has happened.

“Other than one case in 2000, when Gondhalekar was accused of murder, but later acquitted, he has a clean record. He has always been very good at his work, especially in marketing,” Mote said, noting that the company has more clients in Pune than in Satara.

Latest developments

The ATS Monday said it made fresh seizures from Pune, including six hard disks, five pen drives, nine mobile phones, several SIM cards, a laptop, a Wi-Fi dongle, a car, a motorcycle and scores of documents.

According to the ATS, Gondhalekar revealed during questioning that he had “clandestinely stored weapons”, following which the squad seized 11 country-made pistols, an airgun, 10 pistol barrels, six pistol magazines, partially made pistol bodies, a trigger mechanism, several partially made parts of fire arms, a handbook on making explosives, CDs and pen drives.

From Nalasopara too, besides the cache of crude bombs, gelatine sticks, electronic detonators, batteries, fuse wires, switches and so on, the ATS made fresh seizures of five country-made complete pistols, three incomplete pistols, 41 cartridges, and a number of loose parts of fire arms.

Firm likely to be under ATS scanner

In connection with Gondhalekar, the ATS is now also planning to investigate CAD Point.

A senior ATS official said: “Right now, the investigation is quite open-ended and we are looking at any leads, any possible angles that are coming our way.”

Sources close to the company said the local police had visited the founders’ residences Saturday and took down their basic contact details.

CAD Point mostly works with architects and builders to produce 3D renders, graphics and designs for commercial, residential projects as well as interiors, and also acts as a design consultancy. In 2016-17, the company reported a revenue of Rs 48.84 lakh, while its total expenses were Rs 48.05 lakh, as per information from the Registrar of Companies.

Mote and Gondhalekar started the company in 2002, but registered it as a private company only in March 2016 with Mote’s wife, Pratibha, and Gondhalekar as directors. Sources known to both the business partners said Mote and Gondhalekar met as students at a computer programming class and decided to launch their business venture.


Also read: Should Mumbai refineries be shifted out of city? Chembur fire revives debate


An ardent follower of Rajiv Dixit

Gondhalekar, who built an image as a right-wing activist associated with the Sambhaji Bhide-led Shri Shivpratishthan Hindustan, is an ardent follower of Rajiv Dixit, the late Swadeshi activist who used to propagate using ‘desi’ products and protecting Hindu culture.

“Gondhalekar used to regularly listen to Rajiv Dixit’s sermons on CDs and videos, and had a certain craze about him. In between, he started actively working for Shri Shivpratishthan. He was so passionate about all this that one day, he gave up eating non-vegetarian food on principle. At another time, he kept a ‘shendi’ (a small ponytail that some in the Hindu religion maintain),” a person close to Gondhalekar said.

When he stopped responding on his mobile phone, his friends and business associates thought that too was one of the phases he might be going through under the influence of someone’s teachings.

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