26/11 plotter Abu Jundal convicted in 2006 arms haul case

Ten years after Anti-Terrorism Squad recovered a huge haul of arms near Aurangabad, a special court on Thursday held Abu Jundal, the key plotter of the Mumbai attack, and 11 others guilty but dropped the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act charge against them.

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 accused is absconding.

One of the 12 persons found guilty today was 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.

Special MCOCA Judge Shrikant Anekar delivered the ruling, days after conclusion of final arguments in the case, following a ten-year-long wait.

The court convicted Jundal under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosives Act, Explosive Substance Act and Indian Penal Code, while others under varying charges. Charges against them under the MCOCA were, however, dropped.

The court accepted the prosecution's contention that the cache of arms and ammunitions that the ATS had intercepted from two cars had originally been procured from Pakistan.

While convicting Lashkar-e-Tayyaba 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.

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.

The court observed that the accused had a common thought process for Islam and they wanted to wage jihad.

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 Vishwa Hindu Parishad).

The judge said that the accused wanted to avenge developments unfolded after the Godhra riots in 2002.

He also accepted ATS’ case that Jundal was driving the Indica car.

According to police, after the ATS intercepted the vehicles, Jundal, who hails from Beed district, drove to Malegaon and a few days later he 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 other three, while observing that the accused had extensively used mobile and internet facility.