By IANS,
Mumbai : A special court here Monday extended till Sep 10 key 26/11 handler and suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Abu Jundal’s custody with the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for questioning in a 2006 arms haul case.
Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Special Judge S.M. Modak was informed by the ATS that they had identified three more suspects, including a tempo driver, in the case and needed Jundal’s custody to nab them.
The special judge also inquired from Jundal whether he had a defence counsel or needed one.
Jundal replied that he would have to discuss the matter with his parents.
The special judge directed that an ATS team should inform his parents that if they wanted to meet him they could come to Mumbai at their own expense.
He also ordered Jundal to refrain from discussing anything pertaining to either the Aurangabad arms haul case or the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case with his parents.
“You can meet your parents for 10 minutes in the presence of the ATS officials,” Special Judge Modak ruled, adding that in case he discussed any of the above matters, he would not be allowed to speak to them.
On May 8, 2006, a Maharashtra ATS team chased and intercepted two vehicles on the Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad and seized a huge cache of arms.
The case, which became famous as the Aurangabad arms haul case, yielded 30 kgs of RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles and over 3,200 live cartridges.
One of the two vehicles was allegedly driven by Jundal, who managed to escape and later hand the car over to an acquaintance.
Hailing from Beed district near Aurangabad, Jundal sneaked into Bangladesh that month and later to Pakistan on a fake passport procured with help from some Lashkar-e-Taiba activists.
Jundal was working in Saudi Arabia before being deported to India in June. He was arrested by Delhi Police on arrival at the airport. A Delhi court later granted his custody to Maharashtra Police.