Best Bakery accused held for Ajmer blast

In a major breakthrough, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Rajasthan police on Wednesday arrested another accused for involvement in the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast. The accused has been identified as Harshadbhai Solanki, 32, and is possibly a right-wing Hindu activist.

A native of Vadodara, Solanki was also an accused in the gruesome Best Bakery communal killings during the Gujarat riots in 2002. He has been absconding since then.  Solanki’s arrest is the fourth in a row by the Rajasthan ATS, which is investigating the Ajmer blast case. According to ATS claims, Solanki oversaw the manufacturing and transport of the explosive used in the Ajmer blast.

ATS additional director-general Kapil Garg said, “We have arrested the accused identified as Harshadbhai Solanki, 32. Solanki was one of the accused in the Best Bakery case in Gujarat.”  “He has been absconding since April, 2004 in spite of an arrest warrant being issued against him in the Best Bakery case. During this period, he came in contact with the main accused of the Ajmer blast case, Sunil Joshi,”
Garg said.   

Although, Joshi was shot dead on December 29, 2007, in Dewas, MP, the investigation revealed that Solanki was closely associated with Joshi until his death.  “During preliminary investigation, we found that he [Solanki] played an active role as Joshi’s associate in planning the Ajmer blast. We suspect he was involved in manufacturing, packing and procuring the explosives used for the blast,” Garg added.

The ADG, however, refused to comment if Solanki was linked to a Hindu organisation. But sources reveal that Solanki was a member of a Hindu organisation.  The Rajasthan ATS had earlier arrested three persons —Chandrasekhar Lave, Devender Gupta and Lokesh Sharma — for the Ajmer blast.  ATS officials said that their sleuths had arrested Solanki on November 1 and had produced him in a court to have him in police custody.