The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad on Friday got transit remand custody of Zabiuddin Ansari, alias Abu Jundal, from a Delhi court. The court ordered that Jundal be produced in an appropriate court in Mumbai that would decide whether the crime branch or the Maharashtra ATS would get his custody.
While both the crime branch and the ATS have cases against Jundal, the crime branch had earlier been confident of getting his custody from the Delhi police. This was because Jundal has been identified as one of the handlers of the 26/11 terror raids — an investigation that was being handled by the crime branch.
While the National Investigation Agency, the Gujarat police and the Bengaluru police had also sought Jundal’s custody for the cases registered against him in the respective states, the Delhi court granted his custody to the Mumbai police.
While senior crime branch officials refused to comment on whether they would get the custody in court, they said that a heavy deployment of the police would be made around the court where Jundal will be produced.
Meanwhile, an ATS official said that if they get the custody of Jundal, they would interrogate him in a special cell in the Kalachowkie office of the ATS.