Right wing militancy received a major setback when its "specialist" bomb maker Praveen Muthalik was nabbed by Maharashtra's Anti Terrorism Squad from his hideout at Gokak in Karnataka yesterday.
Right wing militancy received a major setback when its "specialist" bomb maker Praveen Muthalik was nabbed by Maharashtra's Anti Terrorism Squad from his hideout at Gokak in Karnataka yesterday.
According to intelligence sources, Abhinav Bharat, the right wing organisation allegedly involved in the Malegaon blast, was grooming the 32-year-old mechanical engineer as one of its "specialist" bomb makers. 
Pravin Muthalik was picked up from a hideout in Karnataka
He was shortlisted for several special assignments across the country.
ATS chief Rakesh Maria said Muthalik had borrowed the keys to an apartment taken on rent by another prime suspect Sudhakar Chaturvedi at the behest of Lt Colonel Shrikant Purohit.
The accused was holed up in the room at Nashik for about seven days where he assembled the improvised explosive device (IED) prior to the blast.
A forensic report also confirmed that traces of RDX were found in the apartment and the spot where the IED went off, killing six and injuring around 100 at Malegaon on September 29, 2008, said Maria.
The ATS suspects that Muthalik was in the room between September 22 and 29, 2008.
So how did the ATS zero in on the elusive bomb expert? The sleuths were tracking a mobile number of the Gokak area from which calls were being made to the members of Abhinav Bharat.
After an extraneous analysis and eliminating of less important or redundant numbers from the call details printout, the cops finally zeroed in on Muthalik, who managed to escape the dragnet for more than two years.
Investigations further revealed that most calls made from the suspected number were routed through a tower in Gokak. Muthalik was escorted him to Mumbai.
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He has been remanded in ATS custody till February 14, after he was produced before a court.
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