“Mahato was arrested from Gorneta village in the district. He is wanted in 13 cases and will be produced before a Jhargram court Monday. We will ask the court for his remand," West Midnapore Superintendent of Police Pravin Tripathi told IANS.
The charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the May 2010 Jnaneswari Express sabotage which left 148 dead does not have Mahato’s name among the 23 people named as responsible, CBI counsel Partha Tapaswi said.
PCAPA spokesman Ashok Jivan Mahato claimed Asit was innocent and falsely implicated by the police. “He was arrested in Gorneta village at around 1 a.m. He is totally innocent and has no connection either with the train sabotage or any other case. He has been falsely arrested by the police,” Mahato told IANS.