Mumbai: Absconding accused in Mulund bomb blast case Saquib Nachan was on April 10 arrested by crime branch sleuths of city police after he surrendered before the Mumbai High Court.

Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice S K Shah ordered the police to take the accused in their custody immediately.

The judges were hearing a petition filed by his father alleging that cops may kill Saquib in a fake encounter.

Nachan is the first accused to be arrested in Mulund blast case.

He is facing the charge of conspiracy to engineer a blast in a local train at Mulund railway station in which 11 persons were killed. Police alleged that Nachan was absconding while the accused claimed that he was residing in his village at Padgha in Shahpur taluka.

The petitioner's lawyer Mubin Solkar said that on March 27, armed policemen had come to Padgha village to arrest Saquib but villagers prevented the arrest. On the next day, three Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists were killed in an encounter in the city by the same two police officers who had come to Padgha to arrest Saquib.

He said the accused was ready to surrender and co-operate with police in the investigations.

The lawyer said Saquib was not involved in Mulund blast and past antecedent could not be ground for arresting him on suspicion in this case. Although Saquib had spent 10 years in Ahmedabad jail for offences under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (Prevention), his conviction could not be cited as a ground for fresh arrest in blast case.

The lawyer said Saquib had no connections with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

PTI