Sanatan Sanstha has not issued any death threat to Nikhil Wagle claims Abhay Vartak.
Abhay Vartak spokesperson of Sanatan Sanstha said that senior journalist Nikhil Wagle is trying to gain publicity by saying that he has received death threat from Sanatan. Vartak said that the allegations made by Wagle are baseless as all the information are provided through his sources. Vartak also clarified that Sanatan Sanstha has never targeted anyone and will not harm anybody.
“If Wagle is really serious about the threat then he should have accepted the security cover offered to him by the Maharashtra government. If Wagle is refusing to accept security then he is only trying to gain some mileage through this issue. We publish articles in Sanatan Prabhat if somebody misinterprets it then it is their problem. Sanatan has not issued any death threat to Wagle or anyone as such,” said Abhay Vartak.
Earlier there were reports about Nikhil Wagle receiving death threat from Sanatan Sanstha. Wagle had invited the ire of right wing outfits for expressing his views against them. Mumbai police officials recently met Nikhil and offered him security cover. Wagle has refused security as it will hamper his journalistic activities. Maharashtra police has found that Nikhil’s name was mentioned regularly in the telephonic conversation between arrested Samir Gaikwad and some other members of Sanatan Sanstha including absconder Rudra Patil.
“Last week, police officials came to me saying that government has decided to offer security cover in view of general threat perception. However, they did not specify whether it was because of the threat from Sanatan”, Nikhil Wagle said.
“I have been getting threats from Sanatan. Four years ago, Abhay Vartak of Sanatan (Sanstha) walked out of a programme I hosted. Even as recently as last week, Sanatan Prabhat (a publication of the outfit) carried an article warning me,” he said.
Leader of opposition in legislative assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said, “The police must immediately take action against Sanatan Sanstha. Sanatan Sanstha had issued death threat to journalist Shyamsundar Sonnar through their publication Sanatan Prabhat. The outfit had also noted down the names of those police men who had taken action against the members of Sanatan Sanstha. This is serious issue and the government must ban Sanatan Sanstha.”
Mumbai Press Club took serious note of the threats issued by Sanatan Sanstha to Shaymsundar Sonnar, a senior journalist with a Marathi newspaper ‘Prahaar’. Sonnar has filed a formal police complaint and has urged the police to provide security to him and his family members.
Sanatan Prabhat published an article targeting Sonnar for his interpretation of Sant Tukaram’s pro-science preaching. Sonnar is a vaarkari preacher who is invited by people across Maharashtra for kirtans and public speeches. His rationalist views are very much appreciated and well accepted. The newspaper’s article which appeared on Sept 1, 2015, spat venom against the senior journalist and called him anti-Hindu.
