Lucknow, Aug. 25: Jaipur police today arrested a 25-year-old computer centre owner in Lucknow, allegedly after the prime suspect in the Ahmedabad blasts linked him to the May 14 bombings in the Rajasthan capital.

Shahbaz Hussain is the first suspect arrested in connection with the serial explosions that killed at least 65 people in the Pink City. Officers investigating the case had so far been groping in the dark.

Shahbaz, alias Shanu, was picked up from Lucknow’s Ameenabad this morning. He runs the Synergic Computer Centre. The police suspect he may have had a hand in the hacking of email IDs to send terror warnings.

“We don’t know if he had any link with Mohammad Ali, the student of Kenneth Haywood, the American whose email ID was hacked to send a terror mail just before the Ahmedabad blasts. We will interrogate him on this,” an officer said.

Shahbaz belongs to a family of traders from Bhadohi in eastern Uttar Pradesh, famous for its carpets. He moved to Lucknow a few years ago. His neighbours described him as a simple man.

Sources said Mufti Abu Basheer, the alleged mastermind of the Ahmedabad blasts arrested earlier this month from Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, had told his interrogators about Shahbaz, believed to be his close associate. Gujarat police, who are questioning Basheer, claim he is the head of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen.

An officer with the state anti-terrorist squad said Shahbaz, like Basheer, was a former member of the Students’ Islamic Movement of India. He was produced before the Lucknow chief judicial magistrate today. Jaipur police have filed a petition for transit remand.

“Jaipur police said Shahbaz was in charge of one of the blast sites, Manickchowk. So we helped them arrest him,” Uttar Pradesh additional director-general of police Brij Lal said. “His associates in Uttar Pradesh will now be rounded up.”