The accused, Siddique Taj-ul Islam Kazi, who was working in a software company in Hyderabad on a fake name Siddiqui Taj Quazi, was nabbed on Wednesday from the city and brought to Mumbai yesterday before placing him under arrest, a crime branch official said.
"Kazi, a banned SIMI activist, is originally from Aurangabad. Soon after the blast, he went into hiding. He had been staying in Hyderabad for nearly 10 years," the official added.
He was earning a salary of Rs 70,000 per month. He was staying in Hyderabad with his wife and five children.
Two persons were killed and over 50 injured when a bomb went off in a BEST bus at Ghatkopar in Mumbai in December, 2002.
Two months back, police received information that Kazi had been staying in Hyderabad with his family. Acting on this tip-off, the crime branch team carried out investigations and finally on receiving confirmation, sent a team to Hyderabad to arrest Kazi.
The verdict in the Ghatkopar blast case given in June, 2005 had left Maharashtra Police red-faced when all the eight accused were acquitted by a special POTA court of all the charges due to lack of evidence.