Former Gujarat home minister, Haren Pandya's, suspected assassin, Asghar Ali, who was
arrested with three others near Hyderabad on Thursday, has a long criminal record.
He was involved in a blast at a city hotel, apart from a number of cases of theft.
Ali, 29, a native of Nalgonda, has 13 offences registered against him in Nalgonda district and Hyderabad. He also has several warrants pending against him since 1991,
according to Hyderabad Police Commissioner Mahender Reddy.
He jumped bail two years ago and slipped away to Pakistan, where he received training in subversive activities, a senior police official said.
Ali also engineered the escape of an offender, Mirza Ali Baig, from a city court in 1996. Baig, who was involved in the killing of BJP corporator, Nandraj Goud, was subsequently shot dead by security forces in Kashmir.