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JAIPUR: (AMN) Mukesh Vasani and Harshad Bhai Solanki the two accused in Ajmer shrine blast case have been remanded to Police custody till the November 9 by a local court in Ajmer. The two alleged saffron bomb makers were arrested from Gujarat in span of two days November 1-3.
Harshad Bhai Solanki, a key suspect in the 2007 Ajmer blast case was arrested on November 1 by the Rajasthan Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) from Vadodra, while Mukesh Vasani, another suspect from was nabbed from Godhra in Gujarat on November 3. Solanki is also a key accused in the 2002 Best Bakery case.
Satyendra Singh Ranawat, additional SP (ATS) who heads the, claimed that Vasani, an anti-cow slaughter activist of Godhra, planted the bombs at the Ajmer Dargah and that he has confessed to his crime.
Three people had died and 30 injured in the blast that took place at the time of ifataar in the month of Ramzaan.
Ranawat said that the suspect would be subject to an identification parade in due course of time,.
Vasani, is closely associated with two other accused in the case – RSS pracharak and mastermind Sunil Joshi and Solanki alias Munna Bhai. A woman had reportedly helped Vasani in the planting the bomb at daragah. ATS has not revealed the name of the woman.
During interrogation, says sources Solanki reportedly revealed that he had worked with Joshi since December 2006, until the latter was killed in Devas, Madhya Pradesh on December 29, 2007.
Solanki, who goes by several names, including Munna, Raj and Dari Bhai, had already confessed during interrogation that he was involved in the Ajmer blast case and that he assembled the bombs and transported them.
The ATS had also launched a search for Swami Aseemanand, another alleged mastermind in the dargah blast, in Dangs area of Gujarat. It is suspected that Mukesh was in close contact with Aseemanand, who was heading a campaign against cow-slaughter.
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 and two absconding accused Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra.
ATS role complimented
Meanwhile State Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal has praised the role of Rajasthan ATS in exposing the terror nexus. He said that the arrest of Harshad Solanki, a suspect in 2007 Ajmer dargah blast case, was a major achievement for the ATS.
“We are happy that the ATS independently arrested Harshad, who is suspect in the Ajmer dargah blast case and was also involved in 2002 the Best Bakery riot case of Gujarat. He was absconding and CBI or any other investigation agency of other States could not arrest him but our ATS has done it,” Dhariwal told media persons.