NIA HINTS LARGER CONSPIRACY TO BE UNEARTHED IN GOA BLAST

Ashtekar is among the four right-wing Sanatan Sanstha men who are currently in jail. Of the 11 accused in the case, five are absconding and two died in the October 16 Margao blasts last year, when the improvised explosive device (IED) went off prematurely. According to the charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Ashtekar googled the net for circuit diagrams of IEDs. Ashtekar also shopped for alarm clocks and other electrical accessories from outlets around Ichalkaranji. He travelled all the way to Mumbai to buy two transistors at Lamington Road. Investigators found Ashtekar’s handwriting on all the five IEDs that were to be planted in Goa by Sanatan activists on Diwali eve. They also recovered evidence of the assembled crude bombs from his rented bungalow at Ichalkaranji.