Mumbai: Religious leader Dayanand Pandey, arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast, has confessed to his involvement in the September 29 explosion that killed six persons, a senior police official said on Tuesday.
"Pandey has confessed to his involvement in the Malegaon blast. We have taken all precautions to ensure that his confession is admissible in the court," Additional Commissioner of Police Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Parambir Singh said.
Pandey, arrested from Kanpur on November 12, was booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) along with 10 other arrested accused. He had been accused of conspiring with prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit to trigger the blast in the powerloom town in north Maharashtra.
He was sent to police custody on November 12 joint civil judge H K Ganatra in Mumbai.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has accused Pandey of having attended meetings held in Bhopal, Pune and Faridabad prior to the September 29 Malegaon blast. The ATS has also claimed that Pandey played a key role in making the bomb used in the blast.
Meanwhile, a district court remanded to judicial custody, until January 3, a Malegaon blast accused who also stands charged of arson at a local church on August 18.
Judicial Magistrate Ashish Shrivastav turned down a request for remanding Sameer Kulkarni to police custody. Kulkarni, who was brought from Mumbai on a production warrant after Jabalpur Police submitted an application on Monday in the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act Court, will remain in judicial custody at Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail.
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