A court in Panchmahal district of Gujarat today handed over custody of an accused in 2002 Godhra serial blasts case, arrested by the state anti-terrorism squad, to the probe agency CID.
In-charge magistarte L M Rathod gave the custody of Mohammad Irfan Qureshi to CID (crime). Gujarat ATS had arrested Qureshi from a village in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh on Monday.
CID would produce him in the court again tomorrow and seek remand for investigation.
Qureshi, in his 40s, is accused of played a key role in the multiple explosions which killed three persons and injured many others. He had been on the run for the last 13 years.
Qureshi, originally from Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahar district, lived in Godhra, 125 km from here, where he made a living by selling rugs.
After the Godhra train burning incident and the riots that had followed, he came into contact with Yusuf Gheeteli and allegedly hatched a plan to carry out bomb blasts to take revenge for the killing of Muslims in the riots.
He went to Mathura from where he sent various materials used to make bombs to Godhra by wrapping them in rugs. After coming back to Godhra, he trained other accused in bomb-making, ATS claims.
Qureshi and others planted and detonated bombs in five places -- a bus in Godhra, Mehlol village near Godhra, one in a Vespa scooter in nearby Lunavada town, one in a bike in Delol village of Panchmahal district and the fifth one inside a bus in Thasra village of Kheda district. Three people were killed in the bomb blast in Delol while many injured in the other explosions.
Afterwards, Qureshi fled to his hometown in UP while all other 12 accused were apprehended. According to MP police, Qureshi was living in Shahdol for the last three years where he made a living by selling bedsheets and quilts.
