Bail granted to cow protector Vaibhav Raut, who was arrested on the charges of so-called Hindu terrorism !

Vaibhav Raut

Mumbai – A Bench headed by Justice Revati Mohite Dere of the Bombay High Court recently granted bail to Vaibhav Raut, an activist of the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti, who was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in August 2018 on the charges of so-called Hindu terrorism. The Court also observed that Vaibhav Raut is not the owner of the place where the anti-terrorist squad claims to have found the bomb from him. ‘Out of a total of 417 witnesses, only 4 witnesses have testified. Such a delay is unwarranted’, the Court expressed its displeasure with the conduct of the investigating agency. While granting the bail, the Court said that the Police claimed that Vaibhav Raut had planned to disrupt the Sunburn programme, but the Police have not submitted any evidence to support the claim. Also, the Anti-Terrorism Squad does not claim that Vaibhav Raut revealed these bombs himself.

Considering the Police’s statement as suspicious, the Court has granted bail to three people in the past too !

In this case, earlier too due to the delay in the trial, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Avinash Pawar in August 2022. In March 2023, the Bombay High Court also granted bail to Pratap Hazra and Liladhar Lodhi. The Court granted bail to both of them, considering the Police’s statement that Pratap Hazra was in Pune at the time of the crime and the bomb was found at Liladhar Lodhi’s house’ suspicious.

A brief sequence of arrests of devout Hindus !

1. In August 2018, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Vaibhav Raut, a cow protector. The Anti-Terrorism Squad had alleged that they found explosives at the residence of Vaibhav Raut. The journalists in Mumbai had also boycotted the press conference held at that time by the Anti-Terrorism Squad, alleging that they were misled by showing false accused in this case.

2. The Anti-Terrorism Squad also arrested Sudhanva Gondhalekar and Sharad Kalaskar along with Vaibhav Raut in connection with the so-called arms stockpile. Following this, Srikant Pangarkar was arrested from Jalna as the fourth accused in this case. He was arrested on the charges of so-called Hindu terrorism.

3. Anti-Terrorist Squad had conducted raids in Nalasopara, Pune, and Solapur. It was alleged that the accused had hatched a conspiracy to disrupt the Sunburn programme, which had met with massive opposition from the Pune District. Interestingly, the Anti-Terrorism Squad made this allegation against these Hindus 7 months after this programme concluded.

‘Vaibhav Raut was trapped as a part of conspiracy’ : Diptesh Patil, Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti

Diptesh Patil, Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti

Vaibhav Raut is fighting against cow slaughter in Nalasopara, Vasai, etc. areas of Palghar District through ‘Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti’. Before the arrest of Vaibhav Raut, false complaints were also filed against him by the cow smugglers. Diptesh Patil of Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti expressed his opinion while talking to the correspondent of the daily ‘Sanatan Prabhat’ that Vaibhav Raut was implicated in this case by the Anti-Terrorist Squad.