The Gujarat Police on Monday arrested a man accused in the 2002 attack at the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, PTI reported.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Bhagrithsinh Gohil told PTI that the Crime Branch arrested Mohammed Farooq Shaikh from Ahmedabad airport soon after he arrived from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Gohil said Shaikh had arranged funds for the attack. He had left his home in Ahmedabad’s Juhapura area for Riyadh soon after the attack, Gohil added.
Two gunmen, allegedly linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, had killed 32 people and injured over 80 after storming the temple on September 24, 2002. Three commandos of the National Security Guard and an officer of the State Reserve Police Force also died in the attack. Both militants were shot dead.
In November last year, the police arrested the alleged key conspirator behind the attack, Abdul Rashid Ajmeri. He was also arrested at Ahmedabad airport after arriving from Riyadh.
In May 2014, the Supreme Court had acquitted Ajmeri’s brother and five others in the case, including three people who had been sentenced to death.
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