The trial of a suspected handler of the Pakistani gunmen who carried out one of India’s worst terrorist attacks is set to resume after seven years.
The Bombay High Court on Monday quashed a lower court’s order staying the trial of Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, the alleged handler of the 10 gunmen who carried out the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, killing 166 people.
Mr Ansari is accused of teaching Hindi to the 10 attackers and helping them learn the mannerisms of the residents of the western city to blend in.
Justice RN Laddha of the High Court allowed a petition by the Delhi police and India’s foreign and aviation ministries challenging the lower court order directing authorities to hand over “confidential” travel documents to Mr Ansari's lawyer.
"After elaborate arguments, today the Bombay High Court pronounced a detailed judgment allowing the petition and quashing the order passed by the session court in favour of Abu Jundal, paving the way for the trial in the 26/11 terror attack case commencing," additional solicitor general Anil Singh said, according to Live Law.
Mr Ansari's trial was stalled since 2018, pending the resolution of the petition. He had applied to a lower court in Mumbai, requesting official documents to support his claim that he had been "illegally" arrested in Saudi Arabia and deported to India.
The Delhi police had claimed that Mr Ansari was a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a proscribed group based in Pakistan, and he was arrested outside the Delhi airport in 2012.
The lower court ordered federal officials and the Delhi police to furnish the concerned documents. The authorities, however, moved the Bombay High Court challenging that order.
Tushar Mehta, the solicitor general who represented the prosecution, claimed that Mr Ansari was a “dreaded and an international terrorist who has trained Ajmal Kasab and others who entered Mumbai illegally via sea route”.
He said Mr Ansari trained them in speaking Bombay-style Hindi and acquainted them with the city’s geography. Mr Ansari "was handling all the terrorists via satellite phone while sitting in Pakistan", the prosecution alleged.
The coordinated three-day assault, which began on 26 November 2008, targeted several locations in Mumbai, including luxury hotels, a train station, and a Jewish centre, resulting in 166 fatalities. India holds Lashkar-e-Taiba responsible for planning and executing the attacks, although the Pakistani government denies any involvement.
India executed the lone surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, in 2012 after the then president Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy plea.
Mr Ansari is also facing a raft of terror charges from the National Investigation Agency as well as police forces in Delhi, Maharashtra, Bangalore, and Gujarat.
He was among seven people sentenced to life imprisonment by a special Maharashtra court for his involvement in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
