Malegaon bomb planter held

Abrar Ahmed, suspected of planting bombs in the textile town of Malegaon that killed 31 people on September 8, was arrested on Saturday by the Anti-Terrorist Squad.

Ahmed was nabbed at Malegaon, about 200 km from Mumbai, and produced before a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act Court that remanded him to police custody till December 22, a senior police officer said in Mumbai.

This was the ninth arrest in connection with the four blasts that rocked the town in Nashik district.

On November 27, police claimed to have cracked the case, but said some arrests were yet to be made. The claim came amidst reports that the case would be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

According to police, two Pakistani nationals were also involved in the conspiracy behind the explosions allegedly carried out by the banned Students Islamic Movement of India.

All the eight arrested earlier -- Noor-ul-Huda, Shabbir Batterywalla, Raees Ahmed, Salman Farsi, Farooq Maqdoomi, Mohammed Zahid and Asif Ali alias Junaid and Mohammed Ali (the last two also accused in the July 11 train bombings in Mumbai) -- have been booked under the stringent MCOCA.

Batterywalla is said to be the prime conspirator of the blasts in Malegaon that were planned during Noor-ul-Huda's wedding in May.

Zahid was remanded to judicial custody till December 22 by the court on Saturday. The rest of the accused are in judicial custody till December 26.