The Bombay High Court on Friday stayed the trial against Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack case till June 11, PTI reported. The court stayed the proceedings as the Delhi Police’s petition against a lower court’s order is pending.
The prosecution has claimed that Jundal, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, coordinated the attack from a terror control room in Karachi.
The lower court had asked the police to provide records related to Jundal’s trip from Saudi Arabia to Delhi in 2012. The police have said they arrested Jundal at the Delhi airport on the basis of a tip-off and charged him with carrying a fake passport. Jundal’s counsel, however, has claimed that Saudi Arabia deported Jundal, and three Indian police officers accompanied him on his flight to Delhi.
To prove his claim, Jundal’s counsel has requested access to the officers’ travel records. However, the police have said that revealing the records may hamper the prosecution’s case.
The police moved the Bombay High Court against the lower court’s order, claiming that they could not be shared with the defence. On Friday, the Delhi Police’s counsel argued that the documents were classified. Jundal’s lawyer alleged that the police were curtailing his client’s rights by denying him access to the documents.
The court will hear the matter next on June 11.
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