Out of total 22 accused in the case, the court acquitted eight others while trial of two accused has been separated as one of them was declared hostile after he turned approver, while another is absconding.
Ten years after Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) recovered a huge haul of arms near Aurangabad, a special court on Thursday held Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, the key plotter of the 26/11 Mumbai attack, and 11 others guilty but dropped the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charge against them. The court, however, accepted the prosecution's contention that the cache of arms and ammunition that the ATS had intercepted from two cars had originally been procured from Pakistan.
Special MCOCA judge Shrikant Anekar delivered the ruling, days after conclusion of final arguments in the case, following a 10-year-long wait. The judge also accepted prosecution's case that the accused wanted to strike terror in the minds of the people and wanted to eliminate public figures like (the then) chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi and Hindu leader Praveen Togadia (of VHP). The judge said that the accused wanted to avenge developments unfolded after the Godhra riots in 2002.
Out of total 22 accused in the case, the court acquitted eight others while trial of two accused has been separated as one of them was declared hostile after he turned approver, while another is absconding.
Of the 12 found guilty on Thursday included Faizal Ataur Rehman Sheikh, who is on death row in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai train bombings case. Six persons are shown wanted in the case.
The court convicted Jundal under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosives Act, Explosive Substance Act and Indian Penal Code, and others under varying charges. Charges against them under MCOCA were, however, dropped.
While convicting Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative, Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, and 11 others, the court observed that ATS could not substantiate the charges of MCOCA against them, even as it accepted direct and substantial evidence presented by the agency in the case.
The court observed that the accused had a common thought process for Islam and they wanted to wage jihad.
According to police, after the ATS intercepted the vehicles, Jundal, who hails from Beed district, drove to Malegaon and a few days later escaped to Bangladesh from where he fled to Pakistan. He was deported to India from Saudi Arabia in 2012. Later, charges were framed against the arrested accused in August 2013.
The judge said the court has discarded seven confessions in the case and accepted three others, even as it observed that the accused had extensively used mobile and internet facility.
On May 8, 2006, a Maharashtra ATS team chased a Tata Sumo and an Indica car on Chandwad-Manmad Highway near Aurangabad and arrested three terror suspects and seized 30kg of RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles and 3,200 bullets. Jundal, allegedly driving the Indica, managed to give police the slip. Later, more arms and explosives were seized.
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