Photo on fake passport is Faheem Ansari’s: Bombay high court

The Bombay high court on Tuesday said that the photograph on the allegedly fake passport used to travel to Pakistan was that of Faheem Ansari, acquitted in the 26/11 terror attacks case.

Ansari, who faced the trial alongside Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, was produced before the court on Tuesday where the state has appealed against his acquittal.

The court had wanted to verify whether or not the photograph on the passport put forth by the prosecution was Ansari’s. The judges asked Ansari to be brought closer to the dais for a good look at him.

They then looked at the passport and the ID card that the prosecution alleged were fabricated to facilitate Ansari’s visit to Pakistan.

“We have seen the photographs (on the documents). Those are his only (sic),” the judges said. Ansari, clad in a white shirt, was brought to the court from Arthur Road jail.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told a bench of justices Ranjana Desai and RV More that Ansari, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba member, had procured a passport in Pakistan in the name of Hassan Hamad.

The then the interior minister of Pakistan had confirmed to the Indian high commission that the passport was issued based on fake documents given by Ansari, the court was informed.

Nikam also told the court that Ansari had prepared 10 maps prior to the execution of the attacks on November 26, 2008 and the HC chief justice’s bungalow and offices of the director general of police and commissioner were marked on these maps.