Kareli bomb blast case: Fifth of the nine accused arrested

A REWARD OF RS 25000 EACH HAS ALSO BEEN DECLARED ON SIX ACCUSED

PRAYAGRAJ : The Prayagraj unit of Uttar Pradesh police’s special task force (STF) on Friday arrested one more accused allegedly involved in throwing crude bomb outside a polling centre at Lekhpal training school in Kareli area on polling day here on February 27 during the 2022 UP assembly polls. The police have named nine people in the FIR of whom four were arrested earlier.

A reward of Rs 25000 each has also been declared on six accused. The crude bomb explosion had claimed the life of a labourer. Circle officer, STF, DSP Navendu Kumar said acting on tip-off, a team under sub-inspector Anil Kumar Singh arrested Anis near Khusrubagh flyover. Anis had gone into hiding after the incident, he added.

Earlier on Monday, Kareli police had arrested another accused Sarfaraz in connection with the attack. On March 9, police had arrested Hasan, Moinuddin aka Munna and Asif aka Inni in connection with the incident and declared reward on six accused including mastermind Shafin, Rashid aka Tundi, Anis, Danish, Faiz Ansari and Sarfaraz.

The accused were involved in the conspiracy to throw bomb near the polling centre to cause disturbance and disrupt polls. Shafin gave the crude bombs to three accused and instructed them to threw them from the graveyard opposite the polling centre. One of the crude bombs did not explode following which Rashid threw another one which hit labourer Arjun who was going on his bicycle near the polling centre. The unexploded bomb was later defused by a bomb disposal squad.

Police officials said the arrested accused committed the crime at the behest of Shafin but had no clues about mastermind’s connection to any organisation. Earlier it was assumed that labourer Arjun was carrying the crude bomb in a bag hanging on the handle of his bicycle.