Mumbai, Aug 29: Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar, who heads the defence counsel of Hindutva outfit Sanatan Sanstha, is defending the five right-wing activists arrested by Maharashtra ATS earlier in the month from Nallasopara, Pune and Jalna.

Sanstha has allowed Punalekar to defend the five accused -- Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar, Sudhanva Gondhalekar, Avinash Pawar and Shrikant Pangarkar, despite the organisation claiming that it has no links with them.

On Monday, Punalekar appeared in Pune court to oppose the extension in transit remand of the accused sought by the ATS. The lawyer claimed that his clients are being framed in a "hypothetical" case of terror, adding that there is no credible evidence to suggest they were planning to attack the Sunburn music festival in Pune last year.

Maharashtra ATS chief Atulchandra Kulkarni told the court that the probing agency has collected sufficient evidence which suggest that they were not only planning to attack the Sunburn fest, but also target a theatre in Belgaum where the controversial movie, Padmaavat was being a screened.

Kulkarni claimed the accused had also prepared a hit-list of "anti-Hindu intellectuals" who they were planning to eliminate.

The five of them have been linked to murders of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar in 2013, CPI leader Govind Pansare in 2015 and journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017.

The Pune court on Monday extended their transit remand till September 3. The detainees have been charged under the provisions of the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act .

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2018 06:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).