Himanshu was his friend and was involved in the Parbhani (mosque) blast. He (Sanjay) owned a gym in partnership with Rahul Pande. He would often go to Pune, as he had his brothers there, staying near Sinhgad. Regarding the training to prepare the bombs, he said that there were four of them (who received training): himself, Maroti Wagh, Himanshu Panse and Yogesh Deshpande Vidulkar who had undergone training at Sinhgad in Pune.

He said that he did not know whether Himanshu had undergone any of the training programmes earlier or (whether this was) for the first time. He said that the training programme was for two-three days. They were trained to prepare three types of bombs. (He gives details of the three types.) Regarding the explosive material (used), he said that both red and white powders are used and the bombs they had learnt to prepare were very small.

The person who had given them training was called ‘Sir’ by Himanshu. His name was Mithun Chakraborty. He had a beard, was tall and stoutly built. After the training Chakraborty gave them a bag containing the materials used for preparing a bomb.

About the blast at the Parbhani (mosque), Sanjay said that Himanshu had asked him to visit Pune to meet an important person. Neither Himanshu nor "the important person", who met him on his arrival at Pune station and drove him to the Kshatriya Lodge himself, disclosed his name. Nobody visited Sanjay during his stay at the Lodge and he was advised not to go outside. On Himanshu’s suggestion, Sanjay travelled to Pune and checked into the Lodge in his real name. Himanshu paid for all the expenses and asked Sanjay to remain in Pune for two-three days. Sanjay said that this arrangement was made due to Himanshu’s plan to blast a bomb at Parbhani. He said that Naresh and Maroti had accompanied Himanshu to Parbhani. All three had travelled on a bike. He further said it was Himanshu who hurled the bomb.

Sanjay also revealed that in the Jalna blast Rahul had accompanied Himanshu. In all the blasts the main leader was Yogesh Vidulkar and Himanshu was next in line. Himanshu had more faith in Naresh Rajkondwar. Regarding Gururaj, he said that during one of his visits to the gym he had seen Gururaj with Himanshu. Sanjay said that he belonged to the SC (scheduled caste) category and these people had identified him for his boldness and had helped him in his education.

Sanjay said Himanshu often called up senior leaders, Balaji Pakhare and other leaders of the RSS in Mumbai. Himanshu was receiving financial support for these activities from the Bajrang Dal and RSS in Mumbai and Pune.

Regarding the explosion at Naresh’s house (in Nanded), he said that Naresh and Himanshu had died on the spot. He said following this blast there was no leader for their group. Sanjay added that he was now afraid, as they had indulged in illegal activities. However, they would keep coming to him (Sanjay) and persuade him to carry out the work of fighting terrorism. He was told terrorists had killed (Kashmiri) Pandits at the Vaishno Devi temple for no reason. So they had decided to see to it that this was not repeated. Himanshu planned to take revenge on Muslims and to safeguard the rights of Hindu women. At one of the meetings that Himanshu had set up Himanshu enjoined all those present to join the fight against Pakistan-supported Muslim terrorism.

He revealed that Himanshu wanted to take revenge on terrorists like Abu Salem who, he said, had blasted a bomb at India Gate (Gateway of India) in Mumbai, killing lots of innocent people. He added that during the meeting Himanshu had talked against terrorist Abu Salem and Dawood Ibrahim for going unpunished even though they had committed a series of crimes. So they decided to target the Muslim population in general. By doing so they thought they would safeguard Hindus. Himanshu had thus decided to take revenge by blasting bombs and killing a minimum of 300-400 Muslims. They would be treated as hijras (transsexuals) if no retaliatory action were taken, he had said.

Sanjay said the bomb that was prepared and kept at Naresh’s residence was to be blasted at the Aurangabad masjid near the railway station on Id day in 2006. The plan to blast the bomb at Aurangabad was triggered by the Varanasi blast (targeting the Sankat Mochan temple in March 2006). Himanshu had said that he would carry out his plan after he received an order over the phone from a senior leader. He said that he would not carry out the plan until he received the order.

Himanshu had a separate SIM card for receiving these orders. Sanjay had also received a phone call where the caller told him not to be afraid and that (if need be) he would get him released from jail at the earliest. He said that the caller was from the Bajrang Dal and his name was Balaji Pakhare. He was a resident of Bajrang Nagar (Nanded).

Rahul said that on the day of the blast he was also present at Naresh’s (Rajkondwar’s) house. Regarding the profession of Naresh and Himanshu, he said Naresh was a road contractor and Himanshu was working in a company. He was also an active member of the Bajrang Dal, the RSS and the VHP. Himanshu was a good speaker and intelligent. He (Rahul) said that on the day of the blast he was drunk when he went to Naresh’s house. There were five other (group) members in the house and they were talking. Naresh asked him why he had come to his house after drinking. He said Naresh put a cigarette in his pocket. He also said that Himanshu was also angry with him for being drunk. He could not understand how the blast took place. He felt something hard had hit his head and he fell unconscious for a while and he was told that there was only one bomb that had blasted at Naresh’s house.

Regarding the other five members who were there at the house, he said that Himanshu, Naresh, Guru, Maroti and Yogesh were his friends. He said that after he regained consciousness he was afraid. So he ran away from that place to Pusad. The doctor at Pusad treated him for his fractured hand. When the doctor asked what had happened he told a false story… never uttered a word about the bomb blast.

He said that he had met Naresh twice in the space of four months. Regarding preparation of the bomb, he said that it was prepared by Himanshu. Regarding the leader of the gang, he said Himanshu was the leader. Regarding the blast at Jalna, Purna and Parbhani (mosques), he said that all the blasts had been planned by Himanshu. To accomplish the task of bursting the bomb at Jalna he had also accompanied Himanshu.

He said that some of the bomb materials were kept in the gym. The materials to prepare the bomb were brought by Himanshu from Pune. He said that Rahul and Guru were to help him to get the materials. Regarding the financial support for the tasks to be completed, he said that he was to help Himanshu, paying him from the earnings from the gym. Guru also helped mobilise funds.

Regarding the preparation of the bomb that went off at Naresh’s residence, he said that Guru had collected around Rs 45-50,000 from people for the act. For the Jalna blast also, Guru had helped financially. Regarding the persons who helped and supported Himanshu, he said there were politicians who were there to support him. Also, members of the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal were supporting Himanshu. Yogesh from Warad was one of the leaders who helped Himanshu. The person from Varanasi who helped him was Mukesh. The leader from Nanded who was helping Himanshu was Govind Puranik. Regarding the preparation of the bombs, he said that two persons had given training to Himanshu. One of the persons he named was Mithun Chakraborty from Pune.

Regarding the plan to blast, he told that it was fixed on Gudi Padwa day. The bomb that blasted at Naresh’s house (Nanded) was planned for Id day and the target of the blast was a mosque in Aurangabad.

Mentioning Praveen Togadia, he said that he had come to their place once to give a speech. Himanshu was the person who had made all the arrangements for Togadia’s visit. He said that Himanshu had gone to Goa with Yogi in the month of December for sightseeing." n