New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Abu Jindal will be quizzed for another 15 days by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on his role in the November 2008 Mumbai strike and that of others from the terror outfit and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
The custody of Jindal (the name given in the first information report and the court orders) was extended with the Delhi Police by a local court Thursday for another 15 days after the first round of questioning since June 21 ended.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav allowed the Delhi Police plea to keep Jindal in its custody for the additional period after he found merit in its submission.
Jindal had been deported to India by Saudi Arabia after he was apprehended there and was arrested on his arrival at the Delhi airport June 21. He was presented before a Delhi court the same day and the police obtained his custody for interrogation.
The Maharashtra Police and the Mumbai police’s Anti-Terror Squad too have been seeking Jindal’s custody to take forward their probes into the Aurangabad arms haul of 2006, the 26/11 attacks, the German bakery blast and Nasik Police Academy attack.
“Of all, I am impressed most with the stand of Special Cell, Delhi Police, wherein the accused has already been in custody for almost 15 days,” said Yadav.
The court observed that the Special Cell has gathered valuable information by constituting various teams.
“Even otherwise, the interest of justice demands an agency, which is in the midway of concluding its investigation, the loose threads of investigation cannot be allowed to remain stray,” the judge said.
The court said that investigation by Delhi Police would also help other probe agencies as they can take a clue from information collected and conduct further investigation.
Pleading before the court for custody, the Delhi Police claimed that during questioning, Jindal was found using nine different email ids and from his possession four internationl SIM cards were recovered, one of which was from Pakistan and others from Saudi Arabia.
It said the call detail records of the SIM cards were obtained through diplomatic channel and the same are being analysed. The mirror images have been converted into sterile DVDs and are being analysed.
Pursuant to several sensitive information received from this accused, various teams were constituted by the Delhi Police and the teams have dispatched to various places.
From their investigations, the teams is gathering further information, which is sought to be analysed in a centralised manner with a view to establish the link of Jindal with other accused, the LeT handlers and Indian Mujahideen.
The public prosecutor also argued that the matter was at a very critical stage and the same progressing in the right direction.
“In case further police custody of this accused at this stage is not granted to Delhi Police Special Cell, then the loose ends of the investigation, which are to be connected and information so far developed will remain inconclusive and scattered,” he added.
