Arthur Road jail, it would appear, is under siege. For Abu Jundal, one of the 26/11 masterminds lodged in the jail’s ‘anda cell’, has threatened to blow it up.
“I am Abu Jundal, the dreaded terrorist,” he keeps hollering every now and then. “I will blast your jail.”
The anda cell where lone arrested 26/11 terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Kasab was kept is now home to Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal.
The 34-year-old Jundal, who is accused of having played a major role in the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, is giving a tough time to jail officials. He has also been misbehaving with the jail staff and at times even manhandling a few.
A jail source said Jundal recently wanted to apply mehndi (henna) on his hair. “He asked the jail staff to get him some mehndi powder. He waited for two-three days, but the jail staff did not provide it to him,” he said.
Jundal waited for two-three days and then created a ruckus. “According to rules, since Jundal is a high profile undertrail, he is taken out of his cell for one hour every day for a stroll. The day he realised he would not get mehndi, he refused to return to his cell after his walk,” the source said.
He kept shouting and abusing the jail staff and kept demanding that mehndi be provided to him. “Additional staff had to be called in to overpower him and take him back to his cell,” the source said. He kept hurling abuses from inside the cell.
Jundal has been lodged in Arthur Road jail since 2012. “In the initial days, he kept to himself and never talked much,” he said. “Of late he has become aggressive and abusive.”
VD Burkule, the jailor, said Jundal misbehaves with guards on duty. “He always abuses them. Sometimes he even manhandles them,” Burkule said.
Jundal is accused of playing a key role in training the 10 terrorists who attacked the city on November 26, 2008. Also, he was present in the control room in Karachi during the attacks and was instructing the terrorists. Jundal is an accused in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul, the Pune German Bakery bomb blast and the attack on the police academy in Nashik.
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