The Madhya Pradesh police have nabbed a person called Dharmendra Rathore for supplying explosives to the prime accused in the Jhabua blast, Rajendra Kasawa, who was arrested in Maharashtra on Wednesday.
Rathore was arrested from Badnawar in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday night. He has been accused of supplying gelatine sticks to Kasawa, who had stored the explosives, used in mining, at his house.
The explosives at Kasawa's house triggered a massive blast ripping through an adjacent building, a restaurant and several other houses. At least 104 people were killed and several others injured in the explosion.
After finding out that the house where the explosives were stored belonged to Kaswa, the police had launched a manhunt to nab him. He was absconding after the incident took place.
Rajendra Kasawa had a licence to use explosives for digging wells. He had stored the explosives in his building, which also has two shops. All his shops and godown in the area have been sealed.
#Jhabua BREAKING: Police arrested Dharmendra Rathore from Badnawar of Dhar district last night, who provided explosives to Rajendra Kasawa.
— ANI (@ANI_news) September 16, 2015
The police had detained Kasawa's wife, son and daughter on Tuesday. However, they were all released the same day after interrogation in connection with the blast, ANI reported.
The police have also arrested Kasawa's brothers, Narendra and Phoolchand. "We have taken into custody Narendra and Phoolchand, two brothers of the main accused Rajendra Kasawa and handed them over to Jhabua Police," a police official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.
The police on Tuesday seized 69 detonators, two batteries and a large number of gelatine sticks from Narendra's house in Petlawad, Jhabua district. He is said to have stored the explosives illegally for mining.
