VoIP evidence is inadmissible

A special agent of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday told the court that he had interrogated Pakistani nationals while investigating the 26/11 terror attack case. The officer, however, refused to reveal their identities.

The FBI agent told the court that a case has been registered by the Los Angeles branch of the FBI within days of the attack. “As per procedure, whenever an American citizen is killed outside the US in a terror attack, the FBI initiates investigations,” said the officer, whose name cannot be divulged as per court’s order. The agent deposed that no arrests were made in the case registered at LA.

Defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi asked the agent about the Pakistanis who have been interrogated, to which the officer said, “It is not proper for me to disclose their names.” The witness also indicated that investigations are still on. The witness had carried out investigations in India during the attack.

Unfortunately, a major part of the deposition, which revealed Pakistani links—like the trail of money paid for the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) account in New Jersey—could not be taken on record owing to the inadmissibility of the evidence.

One installment for the VoIP service was sent through MoneyGram in Pakistan by one Mohammed Ishfaq. “You should get the witness from Pakistan who could tell us about this from his records,” said judge Tahaliyani. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam replied, “It’s not possible.” The judge then said the court cannot substitute the evidence with hearsay.