The Rajasthan ATS, probing the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast, announced the arrest of an important suspect, Harshad Solanki, on Wednesday. Solanki, 32, was also an accused in the 2002 Best Bakery case in Vadodara. ATS officials said Solanki was arrested in Limkheda Dahod district on Monday. ATS additional director general of police Kapil Garg said Solanki had remained in touch with Sunil Joshi, a prime accused in the Malegaon, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer blasts.
?Solanki was in contact with Joshi since 2006, and was involved in planning the Ajmer blast, and even maybe the construction of the explosives used in the terror attack,? said Garg.
He said Solanki was presented before the Ajmer Chief Judicial Magistrate on Monday and remanded to police custody till November 9.
?After getting in touch with Joshi, Solanki became fully involved in planning the Ajmer blast. We believe he was involved in planning the attack, procuring materials for the explosives and even constructing the bomb,? said a senior official.
According to the ATS, Solanki alias Munna, Raj and Dada Bhai had been absconding since 2004.
They are all wanted in connection with the Best Bakery case in Vadodara, in which 14 people were killed when a mob burnt down the bakery during the Godhra riots. Though a local court acquitted all 22 accused, the Mumbai High Court re-opened the case, following which 18 were arrested and four declared absconders, including Solanki.
Senior ATS officials said they had received information about Solanki?s whereabouts in Gujarat, and had a team camping there for nearly a fortnight.
The ATS had filed the chargesheet in Dargah blast case before the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate in Ajmer on October 22 against five persons?Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Chander Shekhar Lave, Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangre (both absconding).