MUMBAI: Sanatan Sanstha, under cloud after its activist was arrested in connection with the murder of veteran CPI leader Govind Pansare, today alleged that right wing organisations like them are being "targeted" at the behest of "hypocritical progressive elements".
"Sanatan Sanstha is being targeted under the pressure from hypocritical progressive elements, but it is never going to bow down before such elements of the country," Sanstha spokesperson Abhay Vertak said in a joint press conference with Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad (HVP) and Hindu Janjagriti Samiti (HJS).
Apart from arresting Samir Gaikwad, the "seeker" of the Sanstha from Sangli in western Maharashtra on Wednesday, police have detained a woman from suburban Mumbai and two persons from neighbouring Karnataka in connection with the case.
Without taking any names, Vartak said, "These forces were maintaining a studied silence about Raza Academy and those responsible for the gathering of thousands of Muslims to attend the last rites of terrorist Yakub Memon (who was hanged for his role in 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts)."
He alleged that state government and the police have been pressurised by these "so-called progressive elements".
"They are consistently hurling false accusations and holding agitations along with the celebrities having the so-called progressive mindset," Vartak said.
Alleging that a "sinister conspiracy" was hatched to prevent police from apprehending the real culprits, Vartak demanded an inquiry to ascertain whether Sanatan was being targeted for "exposing the financial scams of true offenders."
Vartak also said that whatever suggestions being made by the kin of Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar--a prominent anti-superstition activist who was shot dead in Pune in 2013--regarding investigation should also be taken into consideration.
"However, the police and the state machinery must ensure that innocent individuals should not undergo needless stress with the investigation getting misled," he said.
Pansare (81), the social reformer and rationalist, was gunned down outside his home in Sagar Mala locality of Kolhapur city on February 16 and succumbed to his injuries on February 20 at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital.