Nashik attack case: Jundal in custody till Sep 24

A local court in Nashik on Tuesday remanded suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and 26/11 key handler Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal to ATS custody till September 24 for his alleged role in the conspiracy to attack the Police Academy in Nashik in 2010.

Jundal, who was brought from a Mumbai jail and produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate A D Sawant amidst tight security, was asked whether he required any legal aid, to which, he did not give any answer.

However, Jundal told the court that he wanted to meet his parents, but the magistrate did not pass any order on his plea.

Two other accused, Billal Shaikh and Himayat Beg, who had conducted a recee of the Nashik Police Academy in 2010, have already been arrested in this case and are currently held in judicial custody. Seven other accused are yet to be traced.

ATS told the court that the duo had revealed during interrogation that the recee of the Police Academy was conducted on the instructions of Jundal.

Seeking Jundal's custody, ATS said they wanted to know what he was doing abroad after LeT suspects had conducted a recee of the Police Academy here in 2010. They also wanted to know the local contacts of Jundal.

At the time of Billal's arrest, police had recovered from him a memory card, 300 gms of RDX, detonators, 300 gelatin sticks and a pen drive. Billal had told ATS that his movements were being monitored by Jundal on behalf of LeT.

Billal had also told ATS that they had planned to attack the Police Academy on the lines of attack on Lahore Police School in 2009.