A Metropolitan court on Monday granted custody of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and key 26/11 handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal to Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad in connection with the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Pakistani perpetrator of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, received the news of arrest of his Hindi teacher and Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Abu Jundal with shock.
"Forensic experts would be called soon to conduct Jundal's voice measurement through audio spectrometer. Besides his interrogation, his voice sample collection is one of our top priorities during the custody period," a Crime Branch official said.
Nearly three years after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving attacker, was on Thursday night brought face to face with Abu Jundal whom he identified as one of the main conspirators of the mayhem, Mumbai police said.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Tuesday directed Arthur Road jail to file a report on the medical condition of key 26/11 handler Abu Jundal on his plea that he was 'hallucinating' about hanged terrorist Ajmal Kasab.
Four persons, including a Unani doctor, were detained by the National Investigation Agency in Beed district of Maharashtra for interrogation, police said on Friday.
A local court is likely to frame charges against lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and key 26/11 handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal next month in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
Suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba member and an accused in the Aurangabad arms haul case Zaibuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, on Friday sought free legal aid from Jamait-ul-Ulema, a prominent NGO, when he was produced before a special court in Mumbai through video conference.
This is what a defiant and talkative Abu Jundal, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and key 26/11 handler who is in the custody of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad told his interrogators. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, a 26/11 mastermind and prime accused in a conspiracy case of attack on Maharashtra Police Academy in Nashik, has complained to a local court that he was tortured with electric shocks by police, a charge denied by the prosecution.
The judicial custody of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist and 26/11 Mumbai attack key handler Abu Jundal was on Monday extended by 12 days by a Delhi court in a case lodged by the National Investigation Agency against him for allegedly conspiring to launch terror strikes across the country.
The decision to bring the two face-to-face was taken after Jundal made some revelations during his interrogation about training being imparted to terrorists in Pakistan and that he had taught Hindi to the 26/11 attackers, crime branch sources said on Monday.
Terming Abu Jundal as a 'key operative' who will help in joining missing pieces in the 26/11 conspiracy, the government on Friday said his interrogation had clearly established now that a control room had been set which had 'some kind of state support'.
Parents of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Syed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal have reportedly said they won't mind their son being hanged if he is found guilty of involvement in terror activities.
Delhi police is likely to seek an extension of remand of 26/11 handler Abu Jundal, which may put a spanner in Mumbai police's efforts to question him soon.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Tuesday remanded Lashlar-e-Tayiba operative and key 26/11 handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad custody till August 24 in connection with the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
Mumbai police are likely to seek extension of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and 26/11 handler Sayed Ansari alias Abu Jundal's custody on several grounds including that he is yet to elaborate on the role of other conspirators and that his voice samples are needed to be taken.
The NIA said it was making the plea to get the custody of Jundal alias Syed Zaibuddin from the Delhi Police, as it had registered a case on June 8 on the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs about the alleged conspiracy hatched by the deported terrorist and others to wage war against India.
The police were able to ascertain that 26/11 accused Jundal and Kasab were together during the preparatory stages in Pakistan and when the operation was being launched. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Key handler of 26/11 and Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Abu Jundal was on Thursday remanded in judicial custody by a Delhi court after the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad produced him and stated that he was no longer wanted for interrogation in cases registered against him in Maharashtra. Jundal was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidya Parkash by the Mumbai ATS and was sent to Tihar jail.
"Since the investigation of the Special Cell of Delhi Police with which the custody of the accused is in full swing, it would not be appropriate for this court to cut short his (Jundal) police custody and handover his custody to Mumbai Police," Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vinod Yadav said.
In the arms case, a Maharashtra ATS team had chased a Tata Sumo and an Indica car on the Chandwad-Manmad Highway on May 8, 2006, and arrested three terror suspects while seizing a huge cache of 30 kg RDX, 10 AK-47s and 3,200 bullets from the vehicle and along the road. The Indica, which was allegedly driven by Jundal, who hails from Beed district, however, could not be intercepted at that time, according to ATS.
Abu Jundal, an alleged operative of terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba and a key handler during the 26/11 terror attacks, has approached the Bombay high court seeking that he should not be kept in solitary confinement in the same cell where Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab once stayed.
Sayed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal, a prize catch in 26/11 terror case, picked up his first lessons in terrorism when Lashker-e-Tayiba terrorist Mohammed Aslam alias Aslam Kashmiri arranged for his arms training in Nepal in 2004.
Alleged Laskkar-e-Tayiba operative Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, alias Abu Jundal, wanted to take part in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack by landing in the city along with others, according to his confession.
On the first day of talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, focus was on terrorism, especially revelations by recently-arrested Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Abu Jundal on Pakistan's involvement in Mumbai terror attacks, and Jammu and Kashmir.
India believes that Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed was with 26/11 key handler Abu Jundal in the control room set up in Pakistan with some kind of 'state support', Home Minister P Chidambaram said on New Delhi.
Indian investigators doubt that the entire maritime wing of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba is handled by the elite Musa Company -- the special services group of the Pakistan Army, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Maharashtra police on Wednesday told the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court in Mumbai that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and a key 26/11 handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal was involved in terror activities since as far back as 1996.
Mumbai terror attacks handler Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, who is lodged at the Arthur Road jail in the megapolis, is in a serious condition, according to his advocate Ejaz Naqvi.
Key 26/11 handler Abu Jundal was on Thursday remanded in Delhi Police custody for another 15 days by a Delhi court which said his interrogation by its special cell will help other agencies as well in their investigation.
A round-the-clock three-tier security ring has been thrown around the special cell office of the Delhi police where the prize catch in 26/11, Sayed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal of the Lashker-e-Tayiba, has been kept.
The bail plea of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist and 26/11 Mumbai attack key handler Abu Jundal, arrested for his alleged role in conspiring to launch terror strikes across the country, has been dismissed by a Delhi court which also gave the national Investigation Agency up to 180 days time to complete its probe into the case.
The fact that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence shows a lot of interest in the operations in India is no secret. Abu Jundal, who is now being questioned by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad has told his interrogators that two senior ISI officers are exclusively in charge of the Indian operatives of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani began their talks in New Delhi on Wednesday during which India is expected to strongly flag the issue of terror activities being planned from Pakistani soil in the backdrop of arrest of Laskar-e-Tayiba terrorist Abu Jundal, who has revealed Pakistani involvement in Mumbai terror attacks.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday said it was not surprised by the comments of Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik on alleged 26/11 handler Abu Jundal, saying Islamabad is 'habitually in denial mode' and India should follow a policy of first veryfying its claims and then trusting them.
"With the arrest of terrorist handler Sayed Zabiuddin (alias Abu Jundal) ... on June 21, India has made a tremendous breakthrough in the investigations of the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 166 people, including six American citizens," said Lisa Curtis of Heritage Foundation.
Sayed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal's first brush with the law came at the age of 22 when he was arrested in Maharashtra in 2003 for allegedly stabbing a woman with whom his family had a marital dispute. Zabiuddin, the arrested key handler of 26/11, had attacked Fateema Sheikh Jaleel with a sword and also attempted to burn her, according to Maharashtra police sources.
Abu Hamza is without doubt a Pakistani national who was one of the voices who guided 26/11 attack. Now with Home Minister P Chidambaram giving him another alias of Abu Jundal alias Jindal, it confuses the case even further, and nothing can be said with certainty who exactly is the man they have with them. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The confession of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Abu Jundal is expected to open up a can of worms regarding the Indian link to the 26/11 attacks. A source said that he has told the Delhi police that he was indeed in that dreaded control room which guided the attack.