'Faheem gave fake info to get passport'

Terming Faheem Ansari as a co-conspirator in the 26/11 attacks, government counsel Ujjwal Nikam told the Bombay High Court that he had cheated the Pakistani government by procuring a passport in a fictitious name.

The passport itself was not a forged document but the information given by Faheem was false, Nikam told a division bench which is hearing an appeal filed by the Maharashtra government against the order of the trial court acquitting Faheem and Sabauddin Ahmed due to "doubtful evidence".

The duo is charged with drawing maps of Mumbai targets and supplying them to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba which in turn gave them to Ajmal Kasab and other terrorists to execute the attacks on November 26, 2008.

Nikam submitted that then High Commissioner of India in Pakistan, Manpreet Vora, had deposed before the trial court saying that he was informed by Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik that Faheem had obtained passport on the basis of false information given by him.

He said Faheem and Sabauddin were arrested in Uttar Pradesh much before the terror attacks, on February 10, 2008, and 10 maps of Mumbai locations were seized from them.

Nikam argued that statement of Nuruddin Shaikh, a close friend of Faheem, was a clinching piece of evidence.

Nuruddin had told the trial court that he had seen Faheem handing over maps of Mumbai locations to Sabauddin. The talks among them clearly indicate that Faheem and Sabauddin were conspirators of the 26/11 attacks, Nikam said.

Recalling the talks between Faheem and Sabauddin on one the hand and Nuruddin on the other, in Nepal, before the 26/11 attacks, Nikam said the evidence speaks volumes on the role of the duo in the conspiracy.

Nuruddin had inquired from Faheem whether he had started the business of making maps to which he did not reply but Sabauddin intervened to say that the maps were prepared as his friends from Pakistan were coming to visit Mumbai soon.

Nikam said the conversation between them proved to be true as 26/11 attackers, being friends of Sabauddin, came to Mumbai and committed the dastardly act of killing people.

The conspiracy between wanted accused in Pakistan and Faheem and Sabauddin had already been hatched and therefore the attack on Mumbai was inevitable, Nikam argued.

On the defence argument that Nuruddin was not a reliable witness because he could not prove his visit to Nepal, Nikam said Nuruddin studied till class IV and was a driver by profession. Hence it would be pointless to expect that he would retain documents of his visit to Nepal.

Arguments would continue on Monday. The court has already heard submissions of both sides on appeal filed by Kasab against death sentence awarded to him for his role in the 26/11 terror attacks.