Mumbai: Manishi Chandra, the Delhi police officer who arrested Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in Delhi in June 2012, on Monday told a court conducting trial in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks case that no private person was ready to become a panch witness for conducting Jundal’s personal search after hearing his name and hence, his officers became panch witnesses. A Pakistani passport and identity card was found in Jundal’s possession, he said.
Jundal’s lawyer, Khan Abdul Wahab, cross-examined Mr Chandra, who was an ACP at the time of Jundal’s arrest. During the cross-examination, the officer confirmed that there was no visa or stamp found on the Pakistani passport seized from Jundal, post his arrest. The officer also said that he never stated that Jundal travelled to India on that passport and so far, had maintained that he apprehended Jundal outside Indira Gandhi International Airport on June 21, 2012 after receiving a tip-off from his informer.
Answering questions asked by advocate Wahab, Mr Chandra said that he and his team apprehended Jundal around 50 metre away from the arrival bay of IGI Airport. He also said that they did not conduct his personal search at the airport.
The defence claimed that two of Mr Chandra’s subordinates, Negi and Bhushan, went to Saudi Arabia and brought Jundal to India with them by a Jet Airways flight. According to defence, Mr Chandra’s unit wrote a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs seeking a temporary travel document for Jundal so that he could be brought back to India from Saudi Arabia as his passport had expired. Mr Chandra however said that he was not aware of any such letter and also denied that his officers brought Jundal from Saudi Arabia.
The 2008 terror attacks left 166 dead and hundreds of others injured. According to the prosecution, Jundal was one of the handlers of the attackers present in the temporary control room at Karachi, Pakistan. One of the terrorists, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, was caught alive during the attacks and was executed after charges of attacks were proved against him.
