Mumbai: In a fresh development in Mumbai Central bomb blast probe, police on June 16 arrested suspected Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activist Saquib Nachan under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) for his alleged involvement in the explosion that injured 25 persons.

He was produced before a special court which remanded him to police custody till June 23.

Nachan is the first accused to be arrested in this case. Other wanted accused is Yusuf ShaiKh alias Nasir alias Tahir Ansari. The blast occurred on December 6 2002 at McDonald's stall on Mumbai Central suburban railway station.

In a related development, Nachan was also remanded in Vile Parle bomb blast case to judicial custody till June 30.

Nachan is prime accused in cases of Bomb blasts at Vile Parle, Ghatkopar, Mumbai Central and Mulund. He was arrested in Mulund Bomb blast case on April 10 and Ghatkopar bomb case on April 29. Police have arrested 20 persons in these cases.

With Nachan's arrest, the links between all the recent explosions have been confirmed and the police suspicion that the same conspirators masterminded the blasts has gained further ground, prosecutor Rohini Salian told the court of designated judge A P Bhangale.

Nachan and others allegedly engineered a blast in a local train at Mulund railway station on March 13 in which 11 persons were killed.

In another blast at Ghatkopar in December 2002, two persons were killed and 3 injured when a bomb exploded in a bus. In the Vile Parle blast, about 30 persons were injured.

PTI