MULTAN, Oct 20: Police claimed on Wednesday to have arrested what they labelled the central character behind the Multan blast that claimed 41 lives on Oct 7 last.

According to a press note issued from the office of the Multan Range DIG, the arrested man had been identified as Irfan Ali. He was said to be the resident of Naushera Virkan, Gujranwala district.

The police said they rounded up the suspect with the help of a property dealer through whom he had rented a house on Oct 5 in the vicinity of Rasheedabad Colony where the explosion took place when hundreds of people were dispersing after commemorating the first death anniversary of Maulana Azam Tariq.

The police were keeping secret the name of the property dealer, who helped them track down the main character behind the Rasheedabad carnage. The police said they reached the property dealer during an exercise to glean information about houses rented within five kilometres of the blast scene.

The house rented out to Ghulam Raza of Bhakkar had been locked since Oct 8. The situation raised further suspicion about the tenants and, subsequently, the policemen in plainclothes started monitoring the house. In the meantime, the police contacted the authorities in Bhakkar to verify the particulars of Ghulam Raza given in the copy of his national identity card, which he had submitted to the property dealer while acquiring the house on rent.

The identity card proved fake, as there was no man with such a name in the locality. The police claimed that Irfan was caught on Wednesday when he came to the house being watched by the plainclothesmen. During interrogation, the suspect gave out names of his three accomplices allegedly involved in the incident.

The law enforcers claimed to have recovered several fake ID cards and police service cards from the possession of the mastermind, besides fake number plates and three empty shells supposed to be used to fill in with the explosives. The suspect had confessed to the execution of the Rasheedabad car bomb blast, the police added.

Raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining suspects, the press note added.

Earlier, the police had issued sketches of the two dacoits, who had driven away with Zeeshan's car in the New Multan police station precinct, which was used in the incident.