Mumbai: ATS squad disguised as beggars, hawkers, to nab Nalasopara's Raut

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Vaibhav Raut, arrested last week for his alleged links with the right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha, was on the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) radar for more than a month before that.

Officers of the Anti Terrorism Squad had disguised themselves as beggars, hawkers and cobblers and staked out Raut's residence to gather evidence against him, ATS sources have revealed. Raut, 40, who is currently in police custody, was arrested on August 10 from his Bhandaraly home in Nalasopara (West) for criminal conspiracy and planning to carry out bomb blasts to disrupt communal harmony.

"Almost six months before his arrest, while investigating the murders of slain rationalists, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar, Raut's name blipped on the ATS radar. One of the officers who had participated in the gathering of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti overheard Raut asking his samiti workers to source gunpowder used in firecrackers," said an officer who is part of the investigation, on the condition of complete anonymity.

Vaibhav Raut

Following this information, the ATS formed a special team to keep tabs and investigate Raut's activities. The officers said a team of six officers was deputed to follow Raut and keep an eye on his Bhandaraly home. So, these officers disguised themselves as beggars, hawkers and cobblers and stationed themselves outside his house.

These officials even attended every single programme Raut organised or was invited to by other hard-core Hindu organisations. While spying on Raut, the ATS casually mingled with his family and friends, too, during the gatherings at his house, to collect more information on him.

During the course of the stakeout, ATS officers found out that Raut had been a good cricketer, but one day suddenly stopped mingling with the friends he had bonded with over this sport. His focus became drawn towards ideologies of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and soon he became deeply associated with them. There was a drastic change in his behaviour after that, which effectively ended his social life. ATS officials said because of his active participation, in 2013, he was made the head of the Guarakshak Samiti.

What the ATS team noticed
ATS sources revealed that they kept a constant watch on his residence from where he operated his real estate business and carried out work for the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti that he headed. Twice a week, Raut held meetings for the samiti at his residence. ATS officers made note of each one of the members who visited the house for the gatherings. Some of the members who visited him after the meetings were put on special checklists. At the end of the day, the list was shared with another team of officers posted at the ATS headquarters. These officers scrutinised the visitors' list and checked for criminal backgrounds. In the days preceding his arrest, the ATS team noted an unusual change in his behaviour and body language, which eventually played a vital role in his arrest.

An officer from the ATS added, "The team tracking Raut noticed that there was a sudden change in his behaviour. Whenever he returned home, he carried something with him and looked scared, as if afraid that someone was following him." Based on this input, as well as other circumstantial evidence, the officers raided his house and picked him up along with the explosives.

What they found
In the ATS raid at Raut's residence, the officers seized eight bombs from his house and 12 from his shop. In addition, they seized two gelatine sticks, 26 detonators, 150 grams of a white powder wrapped in newspaper, two one-litre bottles labelled 'poison', a cutter, 20 boxes of air gun bullets, two notebooks, one diary, one mobile phone, three SIM cards and two other sheets of paper.

Also Read: Gaurakshak Vaibhav Raut Has Been Framed In A False Case, Say Supporters

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