Ban on Sanatan only after NIA ends probe: Goa CM

Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat has clarified that ban on Sanatan Sanstha would be contemplated only after the National Investigating Agency completes its probe in Margao blast case.

He said till date no direct links of Sanatan with the blast are on record although the accused arrested are its "seekers".

"We are not hurrying into anything but will prefer to wait for the investigation to get over," he said.

The chief minister snubbed reports that the Central Bureau of Investigation had found Sanatan's link with the Goa and Maharashtra blasts.

"The CBI never investigated these blasts," he said.

Margao, the hometown of Kamat, was rocked by a blast on the Diwali eve in which two Sanatan seekers had died.

The investigation by the Goa police's Special Investigation Team had zeroed in on four accused, all related to the Sanstha.

The investigation was shifted from the SIT to the NIA considering the fact that the jurisdiction spreads over three states -- Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

"Since three states are involved, the case was handed over to the NIA," Kamat said.

Kamat's reported statements about Sanatan's links to the blast had evoked strong reaction from the group. Its spokesperson Abhay Vartak had demanded that the government should make public whatever evidence it had against the group's connection.

The Goa blast took place on October 16 when explosives were being ferried on a scooter went off prematurely.

The large-scale conspiracy to have serial blast in the state was exposed after another pair of improvised explosive device was defused at Sancoale village, 20 km away from Margao town.