Patna, April 4: Kundan Kumar, the prime accused in the flat blast case, has revealed to interrogators that he was waiting for a call and instructions when a low-intensity bomb exploded in Bahadurpur Housing Colony in the city on March 30.

Kundan claimed his job was just to store the explosives. He was arrested from Ekangarsarai in Nalanda district, around 70km southeast of Patna, yesterday a day after two of his accomplices were nabbed. The trio, along with another suspect arrested today, were produced in the court of additional chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Preeti Verma. The new suspect, Vicky, is believed to have been in the flat around the time of the blast. All of them were sent to judicial custody to Beur jail till April 17.

Outside the court, Kundan claimed before reporters: "Sonu, a criminal in Ranchi, knows all about the plan." But his revelations before the police have startled the cops.

A police officer said: "It is shocking. Kundan told his interrogators that he was just a carrier. His instructions were to store the bombs and wait for a phone call in which he would have been told about the next move - the target or the place to plant the bombs."

An unconfirmed report this evening said the plan was to plant the bombs in 32 upscale areas in Patna. When contacted, Patna senior superintendent of police Jitender Rana denied it outright. "Nothing like this has come up," Rana told The Telegraph.

On Vicky, the other cop said: "He was in the flat with Kundan around the time of the blast and they were drinking. Hemant and Ashok (the two other suspects) joined later. Drunk, they must have tampered with the bombs and one exploded." This afternoon, another person, Abhishek, was arrested from Ekangarsarai. "The next 24 hours are going to be crucial," the officer said.

Later in the evening, Kundan and Vicky were again produced before the CJM and sent to police remand for four days.

Based on interrogation, the officer confirmed that the explosives had been brought from Ranchi. He said: "It seems to be a group of 10 to 15 people. Their motive is not yet clear and simultaneous raids are being conducted in Patna and the other districts."

Jharkhand police would send two inspector-rank officers to Patna for assist in the case. "Two officers will be sent to Patna latest by tomorrow or the day after to help Patna police," said Anurag Gupta (inspector-general, special branch, Jharkhand police.

Hemant and Ashok continue to be at large, while the police are taking help of technology to track the other people involved. "The men were waiting for instructions to strike. The police are taking help of technology and social networking sites to trace the others involved. The fact that the men didn't know to handle the bombs proves that they aren't experts. Any terrorist organisation's men are trained to handle explosives and weapons and their strikes seldom fail," another officer said.

Additional reporting by Uma Kant Prasad Verma