Abu Jundal may be shifted to Navi Mumbai jail

Authorities on Tuesday old the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act court that they are contemplating shifting the suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and key plotter of 26/11 terror strikes Abu Jundal from Arthur Road jail in Mumbai to a facility at Taloja in Navi Mumbai.

"The Arthur Road Jail officials told the court that they are contemplating shifting Jundal to Taloja jail, but the decision will be taken in couple of days," Jundal's lawyer Ejaz Naqvi said without elaborating.

Jundal has been tried by the special MCOCA court in connection with the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

Jundal, who has been lodged at the Arthur Road Prison, has written a letter threatening to go on a hunger strike if he is not taken out of solitary confinement.

The letter was submitted to the court on Monday by the jail authorities.

The suspected LeT operative is one of the 22 accused in the arms haul case. The Maharashtra ATS team had seized 30 kg RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles and 3,200 bullets on May 8, 2006 from three persons after chasing a Tata Sumo and an Indica car on Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad.

The car was allegedly driven by Jundal who managed to give the police the slip at that time.

According to the prosecution, Jundal then drove to Malegaon and handed over the vehicle to an acquaintance, before escaping to Pakistan via Bangladesh on a fake passport in May 2006.