Two persons belonging to a right-wing Hindu group were detained on Saturday in connection with the explosion in Margao town in Goa in which two members of the outfit were killed.
The blast took place at around 9.30 pm on Friday night when explosives kept in a scooter went off on a busy street in the heart of the town, 30 kms from here.
Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik said police were probing the links of right-wing group Sanatan Saunstha with the blast. Police claimed the outfit was linked to Malegaon blast accused and right-wing activist Sadhvi Pragya Singh.
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“The scooter which was carrying the explosives belongs to Saunstha’s disciple Nishad Bakle,” he said.
A person named Melgunda Patil, hailing from Maharashtra, was killed in the blast last night while another, Yogesh Naik, succumbed to his injuries this morning, hospital sources said.
The Sanatan Saunstha headquarters at Ramnathi in Ponda, 20 kms from Margao, was raided on Friday night following the blast and two persons have been detained from that town in the wee hours of the day, police said. Further details about the detained persons were still awaited.
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The blast, which occurred a few metres away from the site of ‘Narkasur’ effigy competition, a ritual held on the eve of Diwali, gutted three vehicles.
Within half an hour of Saturday’s explosion, a bomb disposal squad detected and defused another bomb with an electric circuit, a clock, four gelatin sticks and a detonator at Sancoale, 20 kms from the blast site.
Red Alert in Goa
Nine persons were detained on Saturday and two trawlers, which were found illegally fishing in the Goan waters were seized after a red alert was sounded in the coastal State in the wake of the explosion in Margao town in Goa, police said.
Two trawlers which were found illegally fishing in the Goan waters were seized near Panaji in the Arabian sea and nine people have been detained for questioning,” Police Inspector Sandesh Chodankar told PTI.
Mr. Chodankar said the local fishermen complained to the police about these trawlers venturing into the coastal waters following which the police detained them.