Hindu radical arrested, jailed

Members, including Desai, have over 20 cases registered against them, including for rioting, illegal protest, etc.

Pune:  Maharashtra police have arrested and jailed Dhananjay Jayram Desai, who founded radical Hindu Rashtra Sena, linking him with a Pune murder and distribution inflammatory pamphlets.

After being in extended police custody last week, Dhananjay Desai was sent to Yerwada jail on Monday. Police say they are making a case for HRS, which has taken a vowed stand to "save the nation from Islamic terrorism and Christian conversion."

HRS members are believed to have murdered a 28- year-old in Pune city and indulged in a spree of public violence following inflammatory posts found on Facebook on May 31.

Over the past week, the 34-year-old Dhananjay Jayram Desai alias Bhai--a native of Vile Parle in Mumbai who currently resides at Paud in Mulshi taluka near Pune— has been arrested twice. He was first arrested on June 3 by Lashkar police, then released on bail the next day.

On June 4 itself, he was re-arrested by Pune rural police for a case registered with Loni Kalbhor police in March this year. Loni Kalbhor police had already arrested 11 in the same case, and detained a 17-year-old juvenile, for several offences promoting enmity between different groups.

After the expiry of Desai's police custody on Monday, he was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate for a five-day extension. However, the magistrate refused police custody, instead remanding Desai to magisterial custody.

Desai also applied for bail, which was opposed by cops, on the grounds that, "there are several cases pending against him and the situation is tense," explained Assistant Public Prosecutor Rajendra Suryavanshi, adding, "hence, bail is pending and the court sent him to jail."

Desai founded HRS in the late 1990s in Mumbai, but it was registered only a few years ago. Members say there are hundreds of branches all over India, mostly located in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Assam.

In Pune district, HRS has over 20 branches. Their stated goal is "to make Hindus very strong and sensitive about the nation and Hindu religion to save the nation from Islamic terrorism and Christian conversion," Pune Mirror reported.


Members, including Desai, have over 20 cases registered against them, including for rioting, illegal protest, etc.

Cases were registered as a routine law and order problem - nobody gave him or his organisation much importance. This is the first time members have physically targeted individuals and the religious structures of a community."

Meanwhile city police arrested two more HRS-affiliated persons for alleged involvement in the murder of Mohsin Sheikh, who was killed on June 2. The total number of arrested has now reached 19, including two juveniles.

Deasi last week had denied involvement in murder. "We organize protests but have never assaulted anyone and there is no such case registered anywhere. We did not plan an attack on any innocent person," Desai said before his arrest.

Source: punemirror