Malegaon blast: Seer discloses correct name, Mumbai ATS baffled

Lucknow, Nov 12 (UNI) A piquant situation arose for the Mumbai Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) after the Hindu seer was today taken into custody from Kanpur disclosed his name as Sudhakar Dwivedi, different from the one, which the ATS had mentioned in a request to the Nashik court.

Preliminary investigation showed that the man taken into custody by the Mumbai ATS was Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Amritanand Swami and not Dayanand Pandey -- the name with which the Hindu Seer, also the Peethadishwar of Sharda Sarvagya Peeth in Jammu, was stated in the request letter to the Nashik court.

The facts came to fore during interrogation, where Sudhakar also revealed that he was the son of Dayanand Dwivedi.

The sources also said Sudhakar was aressted from his brother Prabhakar Dwivedi's house. The Seer was today taken into custody in connection with the Malegaon blast case after he was rounded up from Rawatpur in Kanpur city.

Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) had earlier in the day handed him over to Mumbai ATS on the direction of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court of Nashik, where the request was made by Mumbai ATS.

UP Additional Director General of Police (ADG), law and order, Brijlal had said that since no warrant has been issued against him, the Mumbai ATS has sought his custody for interrogation only during the course of Malegaon blast probe.

He had said that the Seer was in Jammu since 2003 and was residing in Trikut Nagar locality of Northern Indian town.

The two member Mumbai ATS team headed by an ACP rank officer M Kulkarni had arrived here last night to seek the assistance of UP ATS in this regard and proceeded to Kanpur early this morning.

The Peethadhishwar spends most of the time there, where he is known as Amritanand Swami. Being brought here from Kanpur, the suspected would be produced in the special ATS court here. ''Mumbai ATS will seek his remand if they want,'' Mr Lal had earlier said.

The Kanpur links with the Malegaon blast were under scanner since August 24 incident, in which two Bajrang Dal activists Bhupendra Singh Chopra and Rajiv Mishra were killed in Rajivnagar locality of Kanpur.

The expediency in the probe had come after Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur's arrest in Mumbai in connection with the Malegaon blast and subsequent revelation by Maharashtra ATS with regards to her links with the Hindu organisations.

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