26/11 handler ‘Abu Jindal’ arrested

Ansari,who is now believed to be the man who coordinated the 26/11 Mumbai attack sitting in a Karachi control room,came to India from Saudi Arabia on June 21,said officials. He was travelling on a Pakistani passport issued in the name of Riyasat Ali.

Ansari came under the radar of the central agencies in March this year after they intercepted his calls while recruiting youths from Thane district of Maharashtra. A few officials were tasked with the job of keeping an eye on him in Saudi Arabia.

In order to bring him back to India,the Special Cell of Delhi Police approached a Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court at Tis Hazari on June 2 for a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him and his other associates.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Maharashtra ATS will now put Ansari through a voice test. The samples will be matched with the voice intercepted by security agencies during the Mumbai attack.

“We suspect that Ansari was among those who were present in the control room and gave instructions to the ten terrorists who carried out the attack at Mumbai,” said an NIA official. Ansari,presently lodged at the Lodhi Colony Headquarters of the Special Cell,has allegedly confessed to his involvement in Mumbai terror attacks,said police.

He said that he along with five others were inside a Karachi control room and were coordinating with the terrorists through a satellite phone. He told police that he accompanied the terrorists till the Karachi port on their way to Mumbai.

His interrogation so far has revealed that Ansari not only taught Hindi to the terrorists but was also responsible for coordinating the planning with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander and Mumbai attack suspect Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. “Before leaving,he also gave them a few thousand rupees in Indian currency. He also trained them about the geography of Mumbai and how they should approach the people. During the next few days,he will be taken to Maharashtra,Ahmedabad and other places where he is involved in terror activities,” said a police official.

A resident of Beed district in Maharashtra,Ansari fled to Pakistan in 2006 after the Aurangabad arms haul case. The case is being investigated by the CBI which has issued a red-corner notice (RCN) against him. According to investigators,Ansari was pursuing an MA from Navghan college in Beed when he was named in Aurangabad arms haul case.

During his stay in Pakistan,Ansari worked for Lashkar and was also in touch with Pakistan’s ISI. “He left Pakistan after the Mumbai attack and was staying in Saudi Arabia. He has also named a few persons suspected to be from the ISI and were involved in the Mumbai attack,” added an officer.

Jundal was in Saudi Arabia for the past few years and acted as a travel agent. He told police that he had been assigned the job of recruiting Indian youth and seeking funds in Saudi Arabia.

His police custody ends on July 5 but the Special Cell is likely to approach the court and seek for more time to question him.