Security at festivals has become a major concern in the past couple years, with many high-profile terror attacks taking the lives of innocent people just looking to have fun. Thankfully, security often results in positive efforts, as we’ve learned about the Sunburn Festival that took place in 2017.
In court yesterday, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) claimed that “five recently arrested sympathisers of the Hindu right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha (it has distanced itself from them and said they are not its members) planned to plant explosives at last year’s edition of Sunburn,” reports Hindustan Times.
ATS officials claimed in court that two of the accused – Vaibhav Raut and Sudhanva Gondhalekar – had planned to attack Sunburn Festival because they felt it was “against Hindu culture.”
It’s not clear whether ATS was aware of the planned attack before the individuals were arrested.
The five men in total are accused of hurling fire bombs outside cinema halls, planning to attack people who they thought were “against the Hindu religion,” and even possibly the murder of a journalist.
ATS in their raids claim to have recovered “10 pistols, one air pistol, one country-made revolver, 10 pistol barrels, six pistol bodies, six magazines, three handmade magazines, one half-prepared country-made revolver, and seven hand-made pistols from Gondhalekar.”
Here’s an idea to good story writing – say where the festival was supposed to be held!