Thankfully, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have arrested five of the accused men.
It’s quite sad to see that our beloved music festivals are falling target to extremist ideologies. As reported by Hindustan Times, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) claimed in a special court that five members of the Hindu right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha had planned to plant explosives in last year’s edition of the Sunburn Festival in Pune as they considered it to be “against Hindu culture”. However, the right-wing group has distanced itself from them, saying that they are not members.
The five accused – Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhanva Gondhalekar, Shrikant Pangarkar and Avinash Pawar, were arrested earlier this month from Nalla Sopara, Pune and Jalna in connection with an arms case, and were remanded to ATS custody. ATS officials also claimed in court that two of the accused – Gondhalekar and Raut – planned the attack on the festival which was held from 28th to 31st December 2017.
Not to mention, this isn’t the first time that the five have been accused of hooliganism. They were also involved with throwing petrol bombs outside theatres in Kalyan and Belagavi for screening the Hindi movie ‘Padmaavat’. They had also planned to attack individuals who were propagating activities against the “Hindu culture”.
We hope justice will be served soon. Music festivals are a uniting experience and it is sad to see that terror groups view them as easy targets. We’re glad that Sunburn Festival 2017 was a success and we can expect another wonderful edition this year.
