Jundal wants to confess before court

The 26/11 Mumbai terror attack gunman handler Syed Zaibuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal on Friday moved an application at Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court pleading that he would like to record his confession before the court.

Jundal, whose custody in Mumbai police will expire on August 13, stated in his application that he wanted his confession “to be recorded at Esplanade Court under CrPC Section 164 on Monday.”

Despite a plethora of reports since Thursday night stating that the state government has obtained sanction for Mumbai police to interrogate the two key accused together - 26/11 lone surviving gunman from Pakistan Ajmal Kasab in front of Abu Jundal - the  ‘face to face’ interrogation would take place on weekend. A well-placed official reacting to the reports said: “Of course it cannot take place in public space but then there is nothing in the meeting that we need to keep it a hush-hush affair.

“We already have ample incriminating evidence against them. We just need to corroborate it. And criminal psychologists are helping us prepare the questionnaire and its format,” the official said.

As per information gathered by various agencies dealing with investigations into terrorist attacks in country, Abu Jundal, a native of Maharashtra’s Beed district, had trained gunmen in local language besides briefing them on south Mumbai topography.

In 2008, Pakistan-based terrorists had launched a frontal attack in congested areas and five-star hotels and left behind 166 dead and 300 injured persons. The attackers in their bid to grab headlines had also attacked a Jewish community centre. After being taken into custody by Delhi Special Unit, Jundal was handed over to Mumbai police on July 21.
He, incidentally, is also being interrogated in several others cases including Aurangabad arms haul case (2006) and German Bakery blast case.

Jundal’s voice recorded on the phone directing the gun men in Chabad House in south Mumbai's Colaba area have been verified by sound engineers. However, the police in order to tighten its case and also procure evidence of involvement of terrorists in hatching plan across the western border wants to grill Jundal and Kasab together and assess their reactions.