Godhra man held for planting Ajmer bomb

JAIPUR/AJMER: Suspects in the 2002 post-Godhra riots appear to be in the crosshairs of the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). The ATS arrested a second man from Gujarat, in the Ajmer dargah blast case late on Wednesday, two days after it caught Harshad Bhai Solanki, also an accused in the Best Bakery case, from a village in Vadodara.

The ATS said Mukesh Vasani, an anti-cow slaughter activist, was picked up from Godhra. The ATS said he had conducted a recce of the dargah three days before planting explosives at the famous Sufi shrine. Three persons had died and 15 injured in the blast that occurred on October 11, 2007.

Sources said Vasani was helped in the planting of bomb by a woman whose name has not been revealed by the ATS. Sources said police were probing whether Mukesh too had a role in the Best Bakery case. Over a dozen Muslims had died when the Bakery was burned down on March 1, 2002 following post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

The ATS has so far arrested five men, including senior RSS functionary Indresh Kumar, in the dargah case. Mukesh was on Thursday produced before an Ajmer court and remanded in police custody till November 6. The two arrests have left many surprised as the ATS in its dargah chargesheet has not mentioned the names of the two suspects.

The ATS had recently 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.

Vasani had allegedly joined Hindu hardliners after the Sabarmati train carnage at Godhra in 2002 and later got close to Sunil Joshi and Swami Aseemanand, both key plotters in the Ajmer blast.

Joshi had allegedly given Vasani the responsibility of planting bombs. "He came to Ajmer before the blast and went to dargah several times to see the security system and pick the right place to plant the bomb. Vasani stayed there for three days before the blast and planted the bomb at at a place where hundreds of devotees had gathered at the shrine for roza on October 11, 2007," said an ATS source.