Investigators probing last month’s Goa blast say they have found that a MBA graduate, who worked with a five-star hotel and is now in their custody, planted the crude bomb that failed to go off in a town near Margao, while an engineering student arrested for his suspected links to the conspiracy allegedly built the circuits and timers for the bombs.

Two members of Hindu outfit Sanatan Sanstha, Malgounda Patil and Yogesh Naik, were killed when the bomb they were alleged to be carrying to plant at a Diwali celebration in Margao went off prematurely on the night of October 16. While two unexploded bombs were found from near the site of the blast in Margao, one more was found and defused at a Diwali event in Sancaole town, 20 km from Margao.

Patil died within hours of the blast and Naik succumbed to injuries days later. Goa police had subsequently arrested 28-year-old Vinay Talekar, who had an MBA in Human Resources and was working with a local five-star hotel, and an accomplice Vinayak Patil. Investigations also led to the arrest of Dhananjay Ashtekar who was studying engineering in Kolhapur district in Maharashtra. Another man, Dilip Mangaonkar, has also been arrested and his role is being probed.

“Talekar and Vinayak Patil had planted the bomb in a truck carrying effigies of Narkasur in Sancaole at Malgounda Patil’s instance. Malgounda Patil and Naik had zeroed in on the target at both the spots and also provided them with explosives,” claimed a senior officer. Talekar and Vinayak Patil were not members of Sanatan but friends of Malgounda Patil and Yogesh Naik, he added.

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