New Delhi, April 15
In a major success in the decade-old Purulia arms drop case, the CBI today arrested a key conspirator Acharya Tathbhananand Avadhoot, alias Lal Chand Parihar, here.

The accused, who is a resident of Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested from the posh Chanakyapuri area and will be produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate tomorrow for a transit remand to Kolkata, a CBI spokesman said.

Parihar, secretary-general of the Proutist Universal (a wing of Anand Marg), was allegedly one of the key conspirators in the arms drop at Purulia district in West Bengal on the night of December 17, 1995, the spokesman said.

Believed to be the motivator of the main accused Kim Davy, alias Neils Christian Neilson, Parihar had been absconding after the arms drop. He spent number of years in Copenhagen in Denmark.

Davy, against whom the CBI has secured Interpol Red Corner notice, is still absconding and understood to be in that country.

A reward of Rs 1 lakh was announced for those who helped in arresting Acharya Tathbhananand Avadhoot. A Red Corner notice had also been issued against him.

He was chargesheeted by the CBI on March 20, 1996, along with 13 others for his crucial role in the arms drop. He could not be arrested and he was declared proclaimed offender by the court.