Mumbai, June 04 :MONDAY’S verdict was a resounding slap in the face of the Mumbai Police. Delivering the verdict, judge M.L. Tahaliyani suggested the police brought in made-up witnesses and framed two amateurs — Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin. This was done despite evidence to suggest the role of Lashkar-e- Tayyeba operative David Coleman Headley in conducting recces ahead of the attack.
The judge tore apart the prosecution’s case of Ansari having drawn a map of the Mumbai targets and handed it over to the Sabauddin. He said the ‘rustic’ maps were more confusing than helpful. He also pointed out the incongruity of finding a spotless map from the pocket of a blood-drenched pair of trousers.
Conceding that there could not be eyewitnesses to prove conspiracies, Tahaliyani allowed the prosecution to prove the case with circumstantial evidence. However, he said the prosecution did not have ‘quantitative as well as qualitative’ evidence to prove Ansari made the maps and handed it over to Sabauddin in Nepal.MAIL TODAY had highlighted how the Mumbai Police case against both Ansari and Sabauddin was weak as the evidence against them was ‘suspect’.
Speaking about Nooruddin — a witness who had reportedly seen Ansari hand over the maps to Sabauddin in Nepal — Tahaliyani said it was not adequately proved if the witness went to Nepal. There was no evidence of his having crossed the Sunahi check post to Nepal.Questioning the manner in which the investigating agencies ‘ produced eyewitnesses’, the judge said it was “ doubtful if he ( the witness) even visited Nepal”. Referring to Nooruddin’s claim that he visited Nepal along with Bharat Thakur in January 2008, the judge said the prosecution could not bring in Thakur to depose before the court despite issuing summons.
The court also dismissed as “ unreliable and risky” the testimony of an estate agent who claimed to have arranged an accommodation for Ansari in Mumbai and a landlady who claimed he stayed in her house.The police also may have fudged the panchnama of deceased terrorist Abu Ismail. In the earlier panchnama performed immediately after Ismail’s body was found in Chowpatty, the police had not mentioned any map in his possession.
Later in court, they claimed they had found the map made by Ansari in 2007 on Ismail’s person.The judge said the inks in the panchnamas did not match.This suggests the policemen put the chit in Ismail’s pocket as an after- thought to implicate Ansari.
The judge put the prosecution and the investigating agencies in the dock by pointing out that the panchnama showed Ismail’s trousers were blood- stained while the chit of paper containing the map of Mumbai was intact. Not only did it not have any creases, it did not have a single drop of blood either.Saying “ your evidence falls short of standards and cannot be accepted”, the judge added: “ I don’t think they would have gone for such rustic maps. ( The map) is confusing rather than guiding and if you go to wikimapia or google you get maps with excellent prints.” Tahaliyani said the ‘ map theory’ did not fit the conspiracy.
Claiming the evidence against the duo was “ highly doubtful”, he acquitted them saying the two must get the benefit of doubt.By accusing the two men, the police seem to have snuffed out their chances to level charges against Headley, who had actually conducted the recce.The fact is the police and the prosecution knew all along that the cases against the two men were weak, especially as it was Headley who was instrumental in carrying out the recce.
To this end, the police have evidence in the form of details provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after interrogating Headley and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s son’s Rahul’s testimony.Without naming Headley, the judge said the terrorists had undertaken extensive planning for the attack, which was sophisticated.
He said it was not possible that the men who planned the attack were doing it on the basis of a hand- drawn map provided by Ansari.
Thanks Mail today