Ajmer, Mecca, Malegaon blasts linked: CBI

There is a link among the blasts carried out at Ajmer Dargah, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon with self-styled right-wing group Abhinav Bharat believed to be behind them, Central Bureau of Investigation said on Monday.

"Yes, there is a link between Ajmer blast and the Mecca Masjid blast. There is a link," CBI Director Ashwani Kumar said when asked about the ongoing probe and new facts emerged after the arrest of three persons owing allegiance to radical right-wing outfits in connection with the Ajmer blasts.

Kumar said the Rajasthan police along with their Andhra Pradesh counterparts and the CBI have been working on the links for the last six months.

"We are coordinating our efforts. For the time being, we can only say that there is a link. We are hopeful of cracking the case," Kumar said on the sidelines of the annual D P Kohli Memorial Lecture in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, official sources said the agency has also found links with the Malegaon blast. They said the link has been established due to the use of the similar modus operandi and explosives.

They said a joint team of Rajasthan Anti Terrorism Squad, CBI and central security agencies were questioning two of three arrested persons -- Davindra Gupta and Chandrashekar -- in connection with their possible involvement in the Mecca Masjid blast.

The role of the duo was purchasing of SIM cards and timer devices which were used to trigger the blast in Ajmer on October 12, 2007.

Rajasthan ATS had been working on the links of Abhinav Bharat, an extremist group which is alleged to be behind Malegaon blasts.

A team of the state police had recently visited Mumbai to collect full statements and reports of narco-analysis and brain mapping tests done on Lt Col S P Purohit and other accused in the Malegaon blast cases, the sources said.

Purohit, an alleged mastermind of the Abhinav Bharat group had told investigators during narco-analysis and brain mapping tests that another member Dayanand Pandey, also an accused in the Malegaon blast, had planned the Ajmer attack, they claimed.

The team which met officials of ATS Mumbai collected call details of Purohit, his detailed interrogation report besides other documents pertaining to investigations in the Malegaon blasts after which surveillance was mounted on Gupta, the sources said.

The Abhinav Bharat group came into picture during the investigations of the Malegaon blast. The ATS probe headed by its former chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed during the Mumbai attack, had brought out alleged role of the group members in the planning and execution of the blast.