By IANS,
Lucknow : A man, whom police believe to be the vital link among the nine people arrested in connection with the Malegaon bomb blast, was nabbed from Kanpur Wednesday, a top official said.
A joint team of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Mumbai Police and its Uttar Pradesh counterpart arrested Dayanand Pandey, also known as Amritanand Swami, whose name had surfaced during the interrogation of those arrested earlier in this connection.
“The arrest was made from the Kakadev locality in the afternoon. According to our information, Pandey headed a religious body in Jammu Tavi,” Uttar Pradesh ATS head and Additional Director General of Police Brijlal told reporters here.
Six people were killed in the low-intensity blast in the Maharashtra town of Malegaon late Sep 29 night.
Pandey was the peethadheeshwar or head of the Sharda Sarvagya Peeth in Jammu Tawi and is suspected to be a vital link between those arrested earlier in connection with the blast including Sadhvi Pragya, police said.
Pandey, a native of Varanasi, had been living in Jammu for a long time and came to Kanpur last week, Brijlal added.
“He is being brought to Lucknow and the ATS Mumbai will further interrogate him,” added Brijlal.
The arrest was made after a Nasik court issued the arrest warrant, he added.
The Mumbai ATS team reached here Tuesday with vital clues about the alleged involvement of some Hindu leaders from Uttar Pradesh in the blast.
Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Vikram Singh has assured all assistance to them.