The union government has rejected Maharashtra government’s proposal to ban right wing group Abhinav Bharat, which is accused of carrying out the bomb attack at Malegaon in 2008 and at other places. The decision of the government came after consulting the central investigation agencies. Earlier, the government of Maharashtra had recommended to slap a ban on the outfit after several members of it were found involved in different cases of bomb blast and the state Anti-Terrorism Squad had also advocated the same.
Abhinav Bharat, a closed group of right wing Hindutva activists, was allegedly set up in 2006 to counter so-called ‘Jehadi’ terror attacks and it mainly operates in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Himani Savarkar, daughter-in-law of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s brother and niece of Nathuram Godse, is also reportedly associated with the outfit.