A court here on Thursday remanded 26/11 terror handler Abu Jundal in judicial custody at Tihar Central Jail after the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad produced him in Delhi. The Mumbai ATS told the Delhi court that various investigating agencies in Maharashtra which had sought his custody had completed interrogating him in the cases registered against him.
The National Investigation Agency which had vied with several other agencies of Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat for his custody in July told Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidya Prakash that a special NIA court at Patiala House had issued a production warrant for Jundal on October 8. CMM Mr. Prakash directed Tihar Jail authorities to produce Jundal, whose real name is Syed Zaibuddin, with his face muffled, before Special NIA Judge H. S. Sharma on October 8.
The NIA is seeking Jundal’s custody to unearth a Lashkar-e-Taiba plot to stage terror attacks across India.
The NIA counsel had in July pleaded for his custody on the ground that unlike other agencies which were probing Jundal’s past acts, the NIA was attempting to prevent future terror attacks.
Jundal was given a copy of the main charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police Special Cell against 15 alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives and the supplementary charge sheet filed against him. The CMM asked Jundal to go through the charge sheet and let him know of deficiencies in the annexed documents.
The matter has been listed in the CMM court for October 12 for scrutiny of documents and committing the case to a Sessions court as several sections under which the case has been registered is triable only by a court of Sessions.
