The then Union Home Secretary, R.K. Singh, had sent a questionnaire to the Maharashtra government seeking clarification on its report recommending a ban on Sanatan Sanstha, said Sanstha’s legal adviser Sanjeev Punalekar on Thursday.
Mr. Punalekar told a press conference that Mr. Singh, now a BJP MP, had found several lacunae in the State government’s proposal. The Hindu first reported on September 19 (Congress-NCP government had sought a ban on Sanatan Sanstha, reveals letter) that the State had sent a dossier in April 2011 listing various terror-related activities of the Sanstha. The report had demanded a ban, under a Schedule in the UAPA 1967, as a terrorist organisation.
“After this, we as a part of Sanstha wrote to Mr. Singh and sent an 800-page dossier in our favour. We mentioned various facts which were misrepresented in the State report. Then a questionnaire was sent from the Centre to the State seeking clarification,” said Mr. Punalekar. According to the Sanstha, Maharashtra’s then Home Minister late R.R. Patil called back the report because of these problems. The Opposition in the State blamed Mr. Singh for failing to ban the Sanstha in 2011. “The UPA government is being criticised for not accepting the State government’s request to ban Sanstha. But if people like Mr. Singh sit on the file, the decision cannot be taken,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said last week.
