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Another held in Ajmer blast; Aseemanand's remand extended

February 05, 2011 22:23 IST

Rajasthan Anti Terrorist Squared has arrested one more person from Gujarat in connection with the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast case following interrogation of Swami Aseemanand whose custody was on Saturday extended till February 11.

In a related development, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday sought custody of Lokesh Sharma and Devendra Gupta, both accused in the dargah blast case, to quiz them in connection with the Samjhauta Express blast.

The ATS on Friday arrested Bharat Mohan, a resident of Valsad in Gujarat, and produced him in the court on Saturday which remanded him in ATS custody till February 11.

Mohan was taken into custody following interrogation of Assemanad after the ATS took him into custody on January 22.

It the seventh arrest in the case. Judicial Magistrate Vikram Singh extended the remand of Aseemanand after Additional SP Rajasthan ATS Satyander Singh Ranavat produced him in the court in connection with the Ajmer terror attack here which left three persons dead.

Aseemanand, 59, a right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat member, is a prime accused in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid blast case and in his recent confessional statement had said that he and several other Sangh activists had a direct role in Malegaon, Samjhauta Express, Ajmer and Mecca blasts.

Last year, the ATS arrested Devendra Gupta from Ajmer, and Chandrashekhar and Lokesh from Madhya Pradesh and later arrested two more suspected-- Harshad Bhai Solanki, who was allegedly involved in Best Bakery case of Vadodara and was absconding since 2004, and Mukesh Vasani-- from Gujarat, in connection with the Ajmer blast case.

Meanwhile, the CBI application seeking custody of Lokesh and Devedra was filed before District and Session Judge Prashant Kumar Agarwal who will hear it on February 8.

The blast in Samjhauta Express, which runs between India and Pakistan, took place on the intervening night of February 17 and 18, 2007 near Panipat in Haryana and 68 people dead mostly Pakistanis.

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