NIA court frames charges against terrorist Abu Jundal

Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Sayyed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal was booked by the NIA on June 8, 2012.

New Delhi: A National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has framed charges against arrested Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Sayyed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal on charges of carrying out terrorist acts against India, an official said on Friday.

Jundal, booked by the NIA on June 8, 2012, after his arrest following his extradition from Saudi Arabia, was also framed by the Patiala House Court on January 10 for allegedly making efforts to recruit Muslim youths for jihad.

The trial court has fixed January 31 to hear the prosecution evidence.

The NIA, which filed a charge sheet against Jundal on April 4, 2013, found that Jundal hatched a conspiracy with senior LeT functionaries in Pakistan in 2010 to recruit youngsters from India for terrorist activities.

The agency found that the conspiracy was hatched after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack which left 166 people dead.

"The perpetrators also conspired to promote enmity between different groups on grounds of religion. In pursuance of the conspiracy, Jundal had opened various Facebook accounts in fictitious names to hide his identity as he was declared a proclaimed offender in the Aurangabad arms haul case," an NIA official said.

Hailing from Beed district in Maharashtra, Jundal was on the run for alleged involvement in the February 2006 Ahmedabad railway station blast and the May 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

The official said Jundal started posting inflammatory posts on Facebook accounts with the intention to arouse the feeling of "hatred against non-Muslims" in the minds of Muslim youths.

The NIA also established that Jundal tried to approach Muslim youths in India and outside with a view to recruit them into LeT.

In Saudi Arabia, he sent around Rs 45,000 in December 2010 to the brother of one of the accused in the Aurangabad arms haul case in order to influence him that LeT provides monetary support to needy Muslim youths.