Margao blast case: One of the five accused surrenders in court

PANAJI: One of the five absconding accused in Margao blast case has surrendered before a local court. Public Prosecutor S B Faria said that Prashant Ashtekar, a native of Ratnagiri (Maharashtra), surrendered before the sessions court on Tuesday. He is one among the five accused wanted in connection with the conspiracy to execute serial blasts in the state on Diwali eve last year.

The National Investigating Agency ( NIA), which is probing the Margao blast, has already arrested Prashant's younger brother Dhananjay.

Two persons, Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, were killed while ferrying explosives in Margao town on October 16, 2009.

Police had arrested four people - Vinayak Patil, Vinay Talekar, Dhananjay Ashtekar and Dilip Mangaonkar - in connection with this case.

Prashant, who reportedly shifted the hard-disk of his computer which was used to prepare circuit diagrams, was wanted by NIA.

Before surrendering to the court, Prashant said in an interview to a national newspaper, that he shifted the hard disk because "the computer belonged to him."