The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested 12 people, including a local Bharatiya Janata Party worker, from Dahod district in Gujarat in connection with the gang rape of three women and the massacre of seven villagers during the post-Godhra communal riots in March 2002.

A CBI team from the Special Crime Investigation Branch, Delhi arrested the 12 accused in the wee hours, sources said and added that all of them would be produced before a magistrate in Limkheda.

The CBI team along with officials from Mumbai had been interrogating these 12 people for the past three days.

The alleged gang rape and the massacre of March 3, 2002 was brought to light by Bilkis Bano.

A resident of Limkheda taluka, Bano, a key witness in the case, has alleged that a mob of 500 people had attacked them and at least three women, including her sister, were gang raped.

She said she was spared because she told the assailants she was pregnant.