One more arrested in Ajmer blast, Aseemanand''s remand extended

Ajmer, Feb 5 (PTI) Rajasthan Anti Terrorist Squared(ATS) has arrested one more person from Gujarat in connectionwith the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast case following interrogationof Swami Aseemanand whose custody was today extended tillFebruary 11.

In a related development, the CBI today sought custodyof Lokesh Sharma and Devendra Gupta, both accused in thedargah blast case, to quiz them in connection with theSamjhauta Express blast.

The ATS yesterday arrested Bharat Mohan, a resident ofValsad in Gujarat, and produced him in the court today whichremanded him in ATS custody till February 11.

Mohan was taken into custody following interrogationof Assemanad after the ATS took him into custody on January22. It the seventh arrest in the case.

Judicial Magistrate Vikram Singh extended the remandof Aseemanand after Additional SP Rajasthan ATS SatyanderSingh Ranavat produced him in the court in connection with theAjmer terror attack here which left three persons dead.

Aseemanand, 59, a right-wing Hindu group AbhinavBharat member, is a prime accused in Hyderabad''s MeccaMasjid blast case and in his recent confessional statement hadsaid that he and several other Sangh activists had a directrole 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 laterarrested two more suspected-- Harshad Bhai Solanki, who wasallegedly involved in Best Bakery case of Vadodara and wasabsconding since 2004, and Mukesh Vasani-- from Gujarat, inconnection with the Ajmer blast case.

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

The blast in Samjhauta Express, which runs betweenIndia and Pakistan, took place on the intervening night ofFebruary 17 and 18, 2007 near Panipat in Haryana and 68 peopledead mostly Pakistanis.