An accused in the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast was arrested in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, the second arrest in the case in two days.
Chandra Shekhar Patidar was arrested by the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from Chhapri village in Madhya Pradesh’s Shajapur district, on the basis of details gathered from the interrogation of blast accused Devendra Gupta, who was arrested in Ajmer on Wednesday, the police said.
The blast at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer on October 11, 2007, killed three people and injured 15.
Like Gupta, Patidar is suspected to be linked to the right wing Hindu group, Abhinav Bharat Sangathan. Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key suspect in the September 2008 Malegaon blast case, is also associated with the Sangathan.
Sadhvi and 10 others are accused of plotting and carrying out blasts in Malegaon in Maharashtra on September 29, 2008, in which six people died.
Patidar was produced in a court in Ajmer on Saturday and sent in a 12-day police remand.
“Devendra Gupta and Patidar helped in arranging mobile SIM cards and coordinating the stay of the main plotters behind the blast,” an officer told HT. “Both were on radar of the ATS for some months.”
Patidar’s lawyer, Deepak Rawal, however, challenged the arrest, claiming that Patidar had secured a stay over his arrest from an Indore court.
{{/usCountry}}Patidar’s lawyer, Deepak Rawal, however, challenged the arrest, claiming that Patidar had secured a stay over his arrest from an Indore court.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress on Saturday sought a thorough probe to “discern the linkages” between Abhinav Bharat and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
“It is disturbing that the name of Abhinav Bharat is repeatedly cropping up in bomb blast-related investigations,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said. “The organisation has embryonic linkages with the Hindu fundamentalist school of thought. RSS is the fountainhead of this school of thought.”
(Inputs from Delhi bureau)