Sachin Andure, the alleged shooter of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, who was arrested by the CBI on Saturday, had updated his Facebook page on August 8. He celebrated the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, saying his passing meant this land was free of the “sin” of Tamil Nadu.
“I have no ‘karuna’ [compassion] for Karunanidhi, who called Bhagwan Sri Ram a drunkard. Tamil Nadu’s sin has gone, land does not have to carry [his] weight now,” he had posted on his now-deleted Facebook profile. The Hindu is in possession of the screenshots of his Facebook page from 2011.
He also posted: “Karunanidhi’s death in Chennai means that one leader who insulted Hindu dharma is reduced. Jai Sri Ram.”
‘Anti-Hindu leaders’
Karunanidhi was not the only leader who was anti-Hindu, according to Andure’s Facebook posts.
He had been posting hateful, inflammatory and violent messages for years on leaders such as Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, and on communism and socialism. Except for three photos of himself, his profile was full of photos of gods and communal photos circulated on social media, and offensive comments on leaders other than those of the BJP.
His profile also indicated that he was a follower of the late Rajiv Dixit, one of the campaigners for Swadeshi and the safety of cows, and of Sambhaji Bhide of Shri Shivpratishthan.
Bhide connection
Mr. Bhide is accused of having incited riots at Koregaon-Bhima near Pune earlier this year. Sudhanwa Gondhalekar, an activist of Shri Shivpratisthan, was arrested last week by the Maharashtra anti-terrorist squad for possession of explosives, along with Vaibhav Raut and Sharad Kalaskar.
Andure’s Facebook display picture was of Narasimha slaying Hiranyakashipu. In 2002, an identical photo was printed under the banner, ‘Hindu Jagruti’, where Hiranyakshipu was named as the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, founded by Dabholkar, who was killed on August 20, 2013.
From 2011 to June 2013, Andure shared news articles from Sanatan Prabhat, the mouthpiece of the Sanatan Santha, a right-wing organisation, which is under the scanner in the murders of Dabholkar, Communist leader Govind Pansare, rationalist M.M. Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh.
