One more arrested in triple bomb blast case

VADODARA: One more person was arrested by the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) in the triple bomb blast case that rocked Manjalpur area on April 9. Hiren Gopal Patel, 34, was arrested by the cops on Friday for helping main accused Pratik Patel in preparing the pipe bombs attached with timers. Hiren is a resident of Tarapur village in Pavi Jetpur taluka and is cousin of Pratik.
According to the police, Hiren knew about Pratik's plans of preparing the bombs and the motive behind his act. "Hiren helped Pratik in procuring all the material for preparing the bombs. He accompanied the prime accused during all the purchases. Hiren also helped Pratik in preparing the bombs at the latter's factory," said DCB police inspector J R Ramgadhia.
"Hiren's role came to light during interrogation of Pratik. Hiren is the son of Pratik's aunt," Ramgadhia added.
Hiren was present even when Pratik did experimental blasts in his factory and he even congratulated the latter after the three blasts occurred in the bungalow of Jitendra Limbachiya in Manjalpur. Pratik was arrested on April 20 by the cops after investigations showed that he had prepared the bombs. Pratik was in love with Limbachiya's wife Kailash but she rebutted his advances. Angry over the refusal, Pratik decided to plant the bombs in the bungalow of Limbachiya.
The cops earlier believed that Pratik executed the entire operation right from purchasing material, preparing bombs to planting them on his own. Hiren has been remanded to police custody till May 3. Cops said there are no possibilities of further arrests.