Abu Jundal: Wrongly arrested in Aurangabad arms haul case

MUMBAI: Taking the defence of mistaken identity, Abu Jundal alias Zabiuddin Ansari has moved an application before a court that he was falsely implicated by the state anti-terrorism squad (ATS) in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

Jundal, an alleged Laskhare-Taiba (LeT) operative, is also an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case and was one of the handlers in the Karachi control room in 2008.

Aashif Naqvi, Ansari’s advocate, on Monday filed an application before the special MCOCA court stating that “accused arrested is not Zabiuddin Ansari and there is no evidence brought by the prosecution to show that he is the same person”. Ansari had earlier taken the same defence in the 26/11 terror attack case, which is being conducted before the Mumbai sessions court.

A native of Maharashtra’s Beed district, Ansari was arrested after his deportation from Saudi Arabia in June 2012 by the Delhi police, who claimed he is Jundal. Meanwhile, the ATS arrested him in connection with the Aurangabad arms haul case in 2012 as accused No. 22.

The trial in the arms haul case is at the stage of final argument, with the prosecution having already closed their case. Ansari’s advocate claimed that he had, on several occasions, told the court about his mistaken identity.

In written arguments submitted on Tuesday, the defence alleged that the prosecution had not proved his identity. “No identity confirmation is done of Ansari, neither has any test identification parade been conducted. The confession statements refer the name as Jabi Ansari but there is no corroboration to these confessions,” reads the written submission.

Naqvi further said that t he prosecution f ailed t o substantiate their case with necessary evidence.

But special public prosecutor Vaibhav Baghade claimed there was enough evidence to prove Ansari’s identity and that all of it had been placed before the court.