Sanatan Sanstha distances itself from Margaon blast accused

Malgonda Patil, main accused in Margao bomb blast case, had resigned from the membership of two suspicious trusts three months before the explosion, an official of Sanatan Sanathan said on Tuesday.

“Patil had resigned from these two trusts in July 2009 on personal grounds. He was not active with those trusts during the days of blast,” Virendra Marathe, managing trustee, Sanatan Sanstha, told PTI today.

Goa Home Minister, Ravi Naik, in his statement during the recent State Legislative Assembly session, had said that Patil was linked to Dharma Prachar Sabha and Hindu Dharma Pratisthan as managing trustee and trustee respectively.

Mr. Marathe, called to inform about attack on Sanatan’s ashram, said that Patil had given written resignation and resolution to this effect was adopted by the trusts.

He said both the trusts were not associated with Sanatan Sanstha.

Sanatan Sanstha, which drew flak after Margao blast that killed Patil and his accomplice Yogesh Naik, has said that Patil was “just a seeker of Sanstha and not the official“.

“He was not an official although he was looking after ashram management at Ramnathi for some time as a seeker,” Mr. Marathe, who was quizzed by special investigation team (SIT) after October 16 blast, said.

Reiterating that Sanstha has no role in bomb blast, he remarked that Sanstha preaches ideology to everyone and there is no scope for wrong interpretation of the ideology.

“We were never wrong. We ourselves were shocked to see Sanstha seekers’ role unfolding in the blast,” Mr. Marathe said.

Sanstha also refused to accept on face value that Patil was involved in the blast. “We don’t know whether he was involved or murdered by planting bomb. We can’t give our verdict. We don’t know anything,” he added.