Zabiuddin Ansari may soon be out of barrack No. 12

Gangster Rajendra Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan will be kept in the special barrack No. 12 since he faces life threat, senior prison officials said.

Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, who was arrested in 2012 following his deportation from Saudi Arabia, and faces trial in the 2008 Aurangabad arms haul case, will likely be out of the special security cell at the Arthur Road jail. Gangster Rajendra Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan will be kept in the special barrack No. 12 since he faces life threat, senior prison officials said. A senior home department official also confirmed the move.

A prison official said, “So far, this move is sure to take place. However, we will hold a meeting with the Mumbai police commissioner on Wednesday to take the final call.”

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Barrack No. 12, the special security cell, was initially set up for Ajmal Kasab, the only gunmen arrested in the 26/11 terror attacks case in Mumbai in 2008.

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An inmate who is kept in Barrack No. 12 is not allowed to mingle with inmates, a prison official said. The official said they plan to keep Rajan in the special security cell keeping in mind instances of inmates being attacked within prison premises like the incident in which Abu Salem was attacked by Mustafa Dossa.

Rajan’s arrest and deportation comes as a boon for Ansari as he had started a hunger strike on August 5 to press authorities to move him out of solitary confinement and allow him to mingle with other undertrials as his condition was “becoming worse than being in a grave,” as told to The Indian Express by his family members.

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