Third suspect held for Ajmer Dargah bombing

JAIPUR - A third man suspected to be involved in the 2007 bombing at the famed Ajmer Dargah Sharif that killed three people has been detained in Madhya Pradesh and brought to Rajasthan, police sources here said Sunday.

The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan Police held Vishnu Prasad late Saturday in Shahjahanpur in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. He has now been brought to Jaipur for interrogation.

Prasad was picked up for his alleged role in procuring mobile phones and SIM cards used in the terror strikes, police sources said.

The suspect is said to be a close aide of Chandrashekhar, a member of a Hindu rightwing group, who was arrested from Shahjahanpur Friday in connection with the blast, the sources added.

Chandrashekhar’s arrest came close on the heels of the arrest of Devendra Gupta Wednesday from Ajmer, about 390 km from New Delhi. The ATS, meanwhile, Saturday filed an application before the chief judicial magistrate of Ajmer, requesting permission to conduct a narco test on Gupta.

Three people were killed and about 30 injured when a bomb exploded Oct 11, 2007 on the premises of the Dargah of Sufi Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti which annually draws hundreds of thousands of devouts both from India and abroad.

Ajmer’s additional chief judicial magistrate remanded Chandreshekhar to 12 days’ police custody. He is considered an important member of the module that was apparently formed to carry out the bomb attack at the Dargah.

Though the ATS officially refused to name the Hindu group said to be linked to the arrested men, sources in the ATS said it was Abhinav Bharat.

The sources said the ATS team has seized the mobile phone used to trigger the Dargah blast.

The first accused Gupta, who lived in Jharkhand, reached Ajmer to visit his ailing mother when he was arrested. On Friday, the chief judicial magistrate in Ajmer remanded him in 12 days police custody, an ATS official said.

The official said that Gupta’s interrogation had led to fresh leads in the case and that the mastermind might be based in Gujarat.

“A few more people are on our suspect list. You may see more arrests in the coming days. Our investigations are expected to lead us to other states too,” he said.

According to informed sources, the ATS has sent a team to Gujarat to track down the mastermind.

“After interrogating Devendra Gupta, we have strong reasons to believe that the mastermind of the blast lives in Gujarat. Gupta has revealed his name too,” an ATS official said.

The official said police were able to trace the accused with the help of SIM cards recovered from the blast site. Gupta had allegedly purchased the SIM cards for the mobile handset that triggered the blast.