The Maharashtra ATS is certain that Lt Col Prasad Purohit procured the RDX used in the Malegaon blast from an Army depot under instruction from Mahant Amritanand alias Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey.

The ATS believes Purohit, Pandey, Pragya and Sameer Kulkarni began plotting the blast in January this year.

Seeking Pandey’s police custody, Special Public Prosecutor Ajay Misar told a Nashik court that he played a key role in the conspiracy. “The agency is of the opinion that he may have been behind different blasts in the country,” he said.

Misar said: “Pandey called several pre-blast meetings at different places. The first one was held at the Faridabad ashram in which Pragya Singh Thakur, Kulkarni and Purohit were present. The other one was on August 12, in Bhopal, in which it is believed that he directed Purohit to manage and procure RDX for the blast. The responsibility was given as he was in the armed forces as it would be easy for him to manage (to get RDX).”

Pandey was also in constant touch with the two absconding accused — Ramji Kalsangra who planted the motorcycle bomb in Malegaon, and Sameer Dange. Pandey introduced the two to Purohit, Pragya and Kulkarni at a meeting in either Pune or Ujjain, sources said.

The ATS believes the blasts were funded with money that came via hawala through Ajay Rahirkar, treasurer of Abhinav Bharat, and were transferred to Pandey’s account.

The court remanded Pandey in police custody till November 26, and allowed polygraph, brain-mapping and narco analysis.