The man accused of having shot dead three key witnesses in rape cases filed against Asaram Bapu, has reportedly told the Ahmedabad Police that the killings were carried out on behalf of the self-styled godman.

In a major breakthrough, Karthik Haldar was arrested from Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Monday in a joint operation by ATS and Crime Branch unit of city police and brought to Ahmedabad.

According to Indian Express, Karthik has allegedly named Asaram in his statement before the police, suggesting he was a conspirator in all the murders.

The metropolitan court has sent Halder to police custody for four days.

“A few months back Karthik and others had gone to meet Asaram in Jodhpur jail. This is on record since they met him by registering names with their identity cards. Therefore, we can’t rule out the possibility that Asaram knew about the killings,” the report said, quoting a police officer, who interrogated him.

Halder was allegedly involved in the killings of Asaram's personal doctor Amrut Prajapati in June 2014, his assistant-cum-cook Akhil Gupta in January 2015 and another key witness, Kripal Singh, in July 2015 in different parts of the country.

Besides murdering the three witnesses, Haldar had also attempted to kill four other persons who were directly or indirectly associated with the rape cases filed against the jailed religious leader in Jodhpur and Ahmedabad, said J K Bhatt, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) and in-charge IG of ATS.

(With agency inputs)