Mumbai, June 02: Police today arrested three accused in the Vile Parle explosion case and produced them amid tight security before a special court, which remanded them to police custody till June 13.
The accused are Atif Mulla, Hasib Mulla and Dr Wahid Ansari. Atif and Hasib are also accused in the Mulund bomb blast case while Dr Wahid is facing charge of conspiracy in Ghatkopar bomb blast case. The trio was produced before designated judge A P Bhangale.

In the Vile Parle blast on January 28, 30 people were hurt when a crude bomb went off outside a shopping centre. In December 2 blast at Ghatkopar two persons were killed and several others injured while on March 13, a powerful bomb in a local train compartment in Mulund killed 11 people.

According to the police, all the bomb blasts relate to the same conspiracy hatched by the banned Simi and Lashkar-e-Toiba to carry out a series of explosions in Mumbai and elsewhere in the country.

About 20 accused have been arrested in the three blasts and an equal number are wanted by police in these cases. The conspiracy was deep-rooted and spread across various states including Chennai and Kerala, police sources said adding some arrests may by made in these states as well.

Former chief of Simi in Maharashtra and prime accused Saquib Nachan was the prize catch for Mumbai police as he disclosed the conspiracy, the sources said adding he is an accused in all these bomb blast cases.

The seizure of a cache of arms from a well in Padgha village near Mumbai and arms training in hills are significant points in the breakthrough in investigations, they said.

Bureau Report