1 more Abhinav Bharat cadre held

MUMBAI: An alleged member of Abhinav Bharat, the right wing Hindu outfit suspected to be behind the September 29 Malegaon blast, was arrested by the Matunga police from Dadar on November 4. Sudhakar Chaturvedi, 37, had come to Mumbai from Deolali in Nashik, police said.

According to police, a pistol and three cartridges were recovered from him.

“But we became suspicious after recovering a fraudulently acquired entry pass to the Deolali Army Camp with his photograph in military uniform. He revealed during interrogation that he was working for the Nashik unit of Abhinav Bharat,” said a police officer requesting anonymity.

The pass was issued by the Liaison unit of the Southern Command of the Indian Army and is valid till December 31.

Chaturvedi has been booked only in an Indian Arms Act case for possession of illegal firearm but the ATS, which has already grilled him, is likely to seek his custody soon.

“We would be verifying whether Chaturvedi was in touch with Purohit or retired major Ramesh Upadhyay and what could be his role in the Malegaon blast,” said an ATS official.

According to police, Chaturvedi was on the payroll of Abhinav Bharat. The officer said Chaturvedi had attended all the meetings of the right wing group held in Nashik, Pune, Gujarat and Bhopal before the Malegaon blast. Chaturvedi is also believed to have taken part in meetings held at Bhonsala Military School in Nashik, for which he got the fake ID card.

“We feel that whatever Chaturvedi has told the police could just be the tip of the iceberg. We wanted scientific tests to be conducted on him, for which we have already filed an application in the Kurla court,” the officer said. Chaturvedi is likely to be subjected to narco-analysis, polygraph and brain mapping tests, police said.