World | India
Mumbai terror trial: State to appeal acquittal of duo
Evidence against them ‘lacking in quality and quantity'
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 May 6, 2010
Mumbai: The acquittal of Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmad, co-accused in the 26/11 terror case, may have been a jolt to the prosecution and police investigators, but as in the words of the Special Judge M.L. Tahaliyani himself, the evidence was lacking in quality and quantity.
The state government plans to appeal against the acquittal in the high court even as the Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police is awaiting the copy of the judgement to examine it and seek legal opinion on the course of action. Though the two were ordered to be released by the judge, they are being held because of their alleged involvement in other cases — in the attack on Central Reserve Police Force camp at Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, and the terror attack in Bangalore in 2005.
There were several loopholes in the investigation with the judge saying that the evidence presented by the prosecution "did not inspire confidence" .
The duo had been charged with providing maps for the terrorists to find their way to their designated targets.
However, the judge commented that with all the latest technology available, they could have got a better map, including from Google Earth.
According to the police, one of the maps prepared by Ansari had been found in the trouser pocket of Esmail, Kasab's partner, who was gunned down by police at Girgaum Chowpatty. "Since the trouser pockets were stained with blood, the map should also have been stained, which was not the case." The prosecution claimed that Ansari prepared maps of terror targets and handed them to Ahmad. Ahmad allegedly forwaded those to Lashkar-e-Taiba for their terror plans.
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