New Delhi: India on Tuesday handed over to
Pakistan a fresh dossier of evidence on last year's Mumbai
terror attacks containing statements of key witnesses,
including a magistrate and FBI officials, with the hope that
the prosecution in Pakistan would be expedited.
The 7th dossier was handed over by Y K Sinha, Joint
Secretary (Pakistan Division) in the Ministry of External
Affairs, to Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Rifat
Masood who was called to the South Block for the same.
The new dossier is believed to consist of statements of
witnesses, including the deposition of a Mumbai magistrate
before whom the lone captured Pakistani gunman Mohammad Ajmal
Kasab had given a voluntary confession of his alleged
involvement in the attacks.
Pakistan confirmed the same. "Today evening, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs handed over another dossier on the Mumbai incident to our High Commission in New Delhi," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said in a statement.
"Arrangements have been made for the receipt of the dossier in Islamabad. Once received, the dossier will be forwarded to the Ministry of Interior for examination," he said.
In his statement to the magistrate, Kasab had confessed
that the conspiracy for the 26/11 attacks was hatched in
Pakistan by terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives including
alleged mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
Lakhvi has been arrested by Pakistan and is facing
prosecution along with six others.
The dossier is also believed to include deposition of
FBI officers who told the trial court in Mumbai that mobile
phones recovered from terror sites were used by terrorists to
communicate with their handlers in Pakistan during the terror
siege.
Deposition of foreign nationals and seizures of some
articles recovered from terror sites such as Hotels Taj and
Oberoi and Nariman House are also believed to be part of the
dossier.
26/11 terrorist had warned wife of hostage to stop operations
One of the terrorists involved in
26/11 Mumbai attacks had warned wife of a hostage on mobile
phone to ask the security forces to stop their operation at
Hotel Taj or else they would shoot her husband, the
anti-terror court was informed today.
Annie Adil Irani, deposing before judge M L Tahaliyani,
said when her husband Adil Irani did not return from Hotel
Taj, where he works as steward, on November 26 last year, she
telephoned him but the call was received by a stranger who
asked "Kaun hai".
"When I told him that I was Adil's wife and asked him to
hand over the phone to him, the person on the other side asked
"Tumhara naam kya hai, kya dharam hai" (what is your name and
religion), she told special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
Annie said she gave her name and said she was Christian
and her husband a Parsi. He said "Operation rukwa do...warna
tabahi mach jayegi, dobara phone mat karna warna Adil ko mar
dalenge" (tell them to stop Operation or else there would be
havoc, do not call again otherwise we will shoot Adil).
Annie further told Prosecutor Nikam that she then got
a call few hours later from the hotel staff saying Adil had
been shifted to a hospital. She rushed there and asked him
where was his cell phone, to which he said "Woh antakwadi ke
paas hai" (It is with the terrorist).
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 00:40