Samjhauta bomb planter may be also involved in Mecca blast:NIA

Chaudhary, who is in his mid-30s, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last night from Nagda, 50 kilometres from Ujjain, where he was living under an assumed name, they said.

The sources said Chaudhary, who is also known as Samundar Singh among the right-wing extremists, had changed his complete identity and had been living under the assumed name for the last three years after NIA had announced a cash reward of Rs five lakh for his arrest.

They alleged that he was also involved in planting a bomb at Mecca-Masjid in Hyderabad on May 18, 2007 in which nine people were killed. Five more died thereafter in clashes with the police. A cell phone-controlled pipe bomb had gone off at the historical Masjid during Friday prayers.

NIA was handed over the case in 2011 after which the agency chargesheeted five persons -- Assemanand, Lokesh Sharma and Davinder Gupta (all under arrest) and Ramji Kalsangre and Sandeep Dange (both absconding).

Chaudhary would be questioned about his role in the blast cases as the probe has indicated that the planter of the bombs in Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid was the same, the sources in the probe agency said. MORE