Headley has deposed, but for prosecution the real work starts now

Bengaluru, Feb 15: In the week long deposition of David Coleman Headley, there were interesting disclosures that he had made.

Deposing from a jail in the US where he is serving a 35 year old term for his role in the Mumbai 26/11 attack, Headley named several ISI officers who were directly involved in the attack.

While Headley continued to take one name after another, he never once spoke about Zabiuddin Ansari, the man alleged to be the Hindi tutor of the ten terrorists. To recap the ongoing trial is about Ansari and his alleged role in the attack.

Interestingly his name never cropped up even once which prompted his advocate to tell the media on Saturday that his client had not been named even once.

Prosecution has its job cut out:

For the prosecution the job ahead is going to be a tough one. In this particular case, they need to obtain a conviction for Ansari and with Headley not naming him even once, the job gets harder. Headley on the other hand has already been pardoned by the court after he agreed to turn approver.

The prosecution will now have to cross examine Headley and ask him specific questions about Ansari. According to the case of the prosecution, Ansari had not only tutored the terrorists in Hindi, but was also part of the control room in Karachi from where the attacks were guided.

While Headley did say he knew about the control room in Karachi, he did not name Ansari when a tape was played out. A tape of a conversation with persons in the control room and the terrorists had been played out for Headley.

He identified the voices of three persons including Sajid Mir. However he said he could hear some more voices, but did not take the name of Ansari.

Who is Zabiuddin Ansari?

Ansari alias Abu Jundal is a resident of Beed in Maharashtra. He was first booked in a case in 2006 when a major cache of arms had been seized in Aurangabad.

He however managed to flee from the country and joined the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. He was then roped in by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba to be part of the 26/11 attack.

It is alleged that he gave Hindi tuitions to the ten terrorists. This was done to avoid any eye of suspicion when the terrorists landed in India. Jundal wanted them to sound Indian.

After the attack, Jundal alias Ansari left for Saudi Arabia and was alleged to be setting up an Indian module for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Indian Mujahideen. He was traced by the Indian intelligence agencies and deported.

OneIndia News