SURAJ NANDREKAR & BASURI DESAI
SANGLI/JAT/KOLHAPUR: Sangli. Jat. Karajnagi. We were on the road in the vast belt of rural Maharashtra, in the land of turmeric and sugar. But the spice in this story doesn’t come from turmeric but terror. And there is nothing sugary or sweet in this tale. It’s a grim story of Herald’s journey to the village of one of the most wanted faces of terror in Maharashtra with very strong Goa links – Rudra Patil.
Karajnagi is 130 kilometers away from Sangli and in a mountainous region. As the Herald team drove into the village and began asking questions about Rudra, the locals acted surprised and pretended they knew nothing about Rudra or his family. Karajnagi village in Jat taluka is where Rudragonda Patil, an active member of the Sanathan Sanstha, who vanished after the Margao blasts in 2009, is being hunted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), once lived.
After many inquiries this team of Herald reporters reached Rudra’s house which is in the middle of 102 acres of agricultural land. Everyone in the family is illiterate (or pretended to be) and said they were farmers. His mother does not understand or speak any language other than Kannada.
No one in the village, including Rudra’s father Revgouda Appasaheb Patil and mother Ratnakka, both 60, have any clue as to the whereabouts of Rudra. “For last six years he hasn’t come to the village. He hasn’t met anyone,” villagers said.
While the house is made of cement bricks it has all modern amenities, including dish antennae, a television, a computer and printer. It has no motor able access, not even a two-wheeler can reach there, and as such no villagers come to visit. The scene was reminiscent of the Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abottabad where he stayed for years but nobody knew he was there.
Rudra’s Family
Inquiries revealed that Rudra’s grandfather was a native of Karnataka but settled in this Maharashtra village some years ago. Rudra has four paternal uncles but each one has his own separate shelter.
The family owns around 102 acres of property but due to drought and the mountainous soil the produce is not much.
Rudra, 32, is the only son and has three sisters who are all married. His uncle, Changoud Patil, is an officer in the village police station.
Rudra, his cousin late Malgonda Patil (who died in the Margao blast) and uncle Jhargoda Patil were all sadhaks of Sanatan. Jhargoda, a teacher in a private school in Jat taluka, introduced Rudra and Malgonda to the Sanatan.
Inquiries revealed that Rudra married Piriti, an advocate, in 2008, who is not representing him in the courts. They two came together to the village for one and half year but after the Margao blast everything changed.
Malgonda died in the blast and police started looking out for Rudra and he has been absconding since then. He does not stay in the village nor does he come here, said uncle Changoud Patil who is with the police.
The family has no contact whatsoever with other villagers and the situation is such that not many know them. All they know is what they read from newspapers. “They never attend any weddings, birthdays or any functions,” villagers say.
Rudra’s qualifications
Rudra studied from Class I to Class VII in the zilla parishad school in the village, and from Class VIII to Class X, he studied in Nigdi High School and then did his higher secondary in Shirala Higher Secondary School. He went to Sangli for further studies.
In Sangli he started a mobile repair shop but from Class X was a sadhak of the Sanatan Sanstha. Villagers say Rudra was very clever in maths and efficient in Marathi, Kannada and English. In Goa, while at Sanatan Sanstha, he learnt Konkani. After going to Sangli he became a staunch believer in the sanstha’s ideology.
