Ahmedabad: Five persons have been detained in connection with the assassination of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya in Ahmedabad last month and investigations are underway to establish if they had any links with the murder.

Sources said the suspects were picked up by the Gujarat police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and after examining them they will decide whether to take them into custody.

The CBI has not got any "confession" from the five "Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) trained youth" arrested last week, top CBI officials investigating the case said.

"We have not got any confession from any of the suspected persons. We are trying to ascertain whether the five youths arrested by crime branch have any link with Pandya assassination," the officials said adding, "We have not come to any conclusion as yet."

Mohammed Pervez Abdul Kayum Shaikh, Mohammed Yunus Abdulrahim Sareshwala, Mohammed Riyaz alias Goru Abdulwahid Sareshwala, Rehan Abdulmujib Punthawala and Munawar Beigh alias captain Yakubmiyan Mirza, all in their late 20s and reportedly adept at handling sophisticated explosives and target shooting, were arrested by crime branch last week.

Pandya, a former Home and Revenue Minister in the Gujarat government, was shot dead in a well planned shootout by gunmen unidentified "so far" on March 26.

PTI