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Rajasthan police arrest 5th accused in Ajmer blast case

November 04, 2010 18:59 IST

An anti-cow slaughter activist has been arrested from Gujarat by the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squad for his alleged involvement in the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast in which three persons were killed. This is the fifth arrest in connection with the case. Mukesh Vasani, 42, who allegedly planted a bomb on the premises of the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, was taken into custody from Godhra on Wednesday and produced in a court in Ajmer, which remanded him to police custody till November 9, official sources said on Thursday.

This is the fifth arrest in the case and comes just two days after one of the alleged key conspirators, Harshad Solanki, was nabbed in Vadodara.

"Vasani was arrested in Gujarat on Thursday and was produced before a court in Ajmer which remanded him to police custody till November 9," the sources said, adding that Vasani worked as a building contractor in Gujarat.

Solanki, during his interrogation, revealed Vasani's name following which he was taken into custody by the Rajasthan ATS, they said.

Solanki, alias Munna alias Raj alias Daadhi Bhai, has also been remanded in police custody till November 9. The police said he was also involved in the 2002 Best Bakery riot case in Vadodara and had been absconding since 2004. He came into contact with Sunil Joshi, a suspect in the Ajmer blast case who was murdered in December 2007 in Madhya Pradesh, and had played an important role in preparing the bombs, they said.

The ATS had filed a charge sheet before the court of additional chief judicial magistrate on October 22 against five persons -- Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Chander Shekhar Lave and two absconding accused Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangre.

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