26/11: Kasab identifies Jundal as main conspirator

, Aug 10: Nearly three years after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving attacker, was on Aug 9 brought face to face with

whom he identified as one of the main conspirators of the mayhem, Mumbai police said.

Jundal had earlier allegedly told interrogators that he was Kasab's handler during the attack, and before that, he had taught Kasab and other attackers Hindi, and apprised them of the topography of targets.

Mumbai Crime branch sources said late this evening that Kasab was brought face to face with Jundal (31) at the high-security Arthur Road Jail here and identified the latter as one of the main conspirators.

Crime Branch sources said Kasab and Jundal were interrogated together for at least one and half hours. The mayhem unleashed by Kasab and nine others in Mumbai left 166 dead and many injured.

The Crime Branch, which got the custody of Syed Zabiuddin Ansari, alias Abu Jundal, on Jul 21 this year, brought him face to face with Kasab after a go-ahead from Maharashtra government today.

Kasab is lodged in the jail since 2008. Jundal, native of Beed district of Maharashtra, was arrested in the 26/11 case by Mumbai Police after he was brought here from Delhi where he had been apprehended in another case after being deported from Saudi Arabia in Jun this year.

Though Kasab's claimed admission of Jundal's role will strengthen India's case that attacks were planned in Pakistan, it remains to be seen if the neighbouring country would give enough weightage while prosecuting the conspirators arrested there.

Pakistan has already sought permission for a second visit by a judicial commission to India, with a court in that country saying the proceedings of the previous visit by the panel could not be used as evidence as it was not allowed to cross-examine Indian witnesses.

PTI