It is an honourable acquittal, says Faheem Ansari’s wife

Faheem Ansari's wife, Yasmin

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: Faheem Ansari’s acquittal in the 26/11 case has come as a breather for his grass widow. “On the morning of November 11, I met Ansari for the first time after his arrest (in the CRPF attack case). We met him in a Rampur jail. The next morning, when we were heading for Lucknow in the train, we learnt about the terror attack in Mumbai,’’ said Ansari’s 32-year-old wife, Yasmin.

Shortly before heading to meet him in prison on Tuesday afternoon, Yasmin was bracing herself to face another spell alone for he would be taken to Rampur in connection in the case involving the attack on the CRPF camp.

The 26/11 morning was not unusual for her. “I was meeting my husband on that morning after eight months of his arrest,’’ she said, adding that she met him for a second time when he was brought to Mumbai in connection with the terror attack. “Ansari told me that the policemen were saying he will not be arrested in the Mumbai terror attack case.’’

Yasmin rises to her husband’s defence as soon as it is pointed out that Judge Tahaliyani discharged Faheem Ansari merely for lack of evidence. “In my eyes, it is an honourable acquittal because even the evidence that was found on him was planted by the crime branch police. Why didn’t they accuse him of providing maps to the attackers at the first instance instead of waiting for the fourth or fifth remand?’’ asks Yasmin holding her dupatta over her mouth for the most part of the conversation given the presence of male journalists.

Apart from the odd grouse over policewomen unbraiding her hair for security reasons, Yasmin does not allege mistreatment by the authorities.

Yasmin, who lives in Goregaon, is currently staying with her parents at their BIT chawl home in Mominpura, a floor above the residence of Dr Tanveer Ansari who was implicated for his involvement in the 7/11 serial train blasts, in the building opposite that of Dr Jalees Ansari, another terror convict. “I must say my neighbours have been a strong source of support,’’ says Yasmin. “I would sometimes stitch clothes to supplement the family income.” However, the non-Muslim clientele who provided contracts to her husband’s envelope-making workshop shied away.

The Times of India, May 5, 2010

12 held for supplying fake certs to seafarers

IN THE DOCK

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: The Yellowgate police arrested 12 persons and busted a fake Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC), an identity document for seafarers. The group would charge between Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000 for a fake CDC.

Immigration authorities, while verifying CDCs issued to sailors aboard Uniglory Ship, detected a fraud in January this year when came across some fake certificates. They alerted the Yellowgate police, who arrested Binit Pawar. “After sustained interrogation, Pawar spilled the beans on other agents, printers and suppliers involved in the racket,” said R K Padmanabhan, additional commissioner of police.

Among those arrested, Anil Rajput, a printer by profession, is said to be the mastermind. According to the police, he has been involved in the scam since 1994.

CDC is issued by the Ministry of Shipping through the Directorate General of Shipping to those who have cleared the pre-sea test and the Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (or STCW) exam from an authorised institution.

The police are now planning to meet shipping officials to prevent such rackets. “We will suggest that the CDC bear the expiry date,’’ said Padmanabhan. “It has been found that many people also used fake CDCs to travel abroad illegally’’ said Padmanabhan.

The Times of India, May 5, 2010

State has learnt lessons in security

Post 26/11, Govt Invested In Intelligence, Arms & Training

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: The Maharashtra police appears to have learnt some lessons from the 26/11 terror strike.

Soon after the attack, which was termed as an intelligence failure, the state government, for instance, announced an examination to recruit personnel for a dedicated intelligence wing in the state police.

In 2009, the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC), which conducts examination for recruiting police personnel, inducted 950 police personnel for the state intelligence department (SID). Their primary task involves intelligence gathering across Maharashtra.

Before this drive, the SID had only one thousand personnel across the state, a number which was grossly inadequate for the state’s population of 10 crores.

“The recruits have been asked to learn at least one foreign or a state language other than English and Marathi,’’ revealed an official from the security forces.

Before the 26/11 attacks, the Intelligence Bureau had received information about 35 mobile SIM cards which were sent to Pakistan in 2008. It, however, could not monitor these numbers — four of which were used by the 10 Pakistani terrorists during the attacks.

In order to avoid such serious lapses, a senior police officer said that recently, another plan for an intelligence coordination system has been introduced in the city. “In every police station, a policeman has been entrusted with the job of coordinating with the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) and the crime branch in terms of getting inputs about terror-related cases.’’

Earlier, few policemen would practise firing at a firing range. Post 26/11, though, the policemen from all the 90 police stations, specialised branches, side branches, protection unit and armed forces are regularly sent for firing practice. The older weapons have been replaced with advanced and sophisticated ones. The city police purchased an arms and explosive detecting vehicle, fire-proof vehicles and is in the process of purchasing a robot which could fight terrorists at such places where entry for policemen may be difficult.

“Post 26/11, the city police has formed a quick response team (QRT) squad in all the five regions and mock drills are being conducted on a regular basis so that they get familiarised with the areas and reach in the shortest time in case there is an untoward incident,’’ said the officer.

TERROR BOAT: The seized dinghy used by the terrorists kept at the Cuffe Parade police station

The Times of India, May 5, 2010

Acquittal is our victory, says Faheem’s wife

JUBILANT: Faheem Ansari’s wife Yasmin and his brother at the Jamiat-ul-Ulema office on Monday. (Left) Sabauddin Ahmed’s lawyer Ejaz Naqvi

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: “The crime branch’s tall claims have fallen short,’’ said Yasmin Ansari, wife of Faheem Ansari, who was acquitted of all charges in the 26/11 trial on Monday. Yasmin was speaking at the Bhendi Bazaar office of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema, a socio-religious organisation.

After judge M L Tahaliyani acquitted Faheem of all charges, Yasmin reiterated her earlier statement that her 35-year-old husband had been falsely implicated in the case. Yasmin added, “I am relieved now. We were right to have faith in the judiciary, because the court was fair and did not buy the police theory about my husband’s involvement.’’

Faheem had been in the custody of the Uttar Pradesh police at the time of 26/11 terror attack in November 2008. The crime branch, then headed by Rakesh Maria, arrested him on charges of conspiracy and preparing maps of targeted sites. Along with Ansari, a Bihar youth, Sabauddin Ahmed Shaikh, was also arrested. Both were acquitted on Monday.

Yasmin said she got up at around 4am on Monday and offered Tahajjud Namaz (a pre-dawn prayer) for her husband. The mother of eight-year-old Iqra, Yasmin has consistently been following the 26/11 trial since the beginning in April 2009.

“The acquittal is our victory. The credit goes to Shahid Azmi and the Jamiat-ul-Ulema, who helped us at every stage of the trial,’’ said a jubilant Yasmin. Faheem’s first defence lawyer Shahid was killed in an unrelated case during the trial and his brother Khalid had to take over the case.

Yasmin would attend the court hearings in burqa and befriended several journalists during that time. “While the police were lying all these days, our friends and family stood by us during this crisis,’’ she added.

Yasmin would coordinate with lawyers, discuss the case with the legal cell of the Jamiat, take care of her family and help her daughter study. She would get help in the court case from Ansari’s elder brother, Usman.

Yasmin alleged, “When we asked the police why Ansari had been arrested, they said there was media pressure on them to act.’’

Recalling the days after Ansari was arrested, Yasmin said, “We met several lawyers but they said that the case was very sensitive and there was no chance of Ansari being acquitted or discharged. Some of them were ready to take the case, but demanded huge amounts of money, which we couldn’t pay. Shahid was the first person who said Ansari had been framed and would be acquitted.’’
mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

Advocate Ejaz Naavi
The Times of India, May 4, 2010

Maha ATS team to grill Ajmer blast suspects

MALEGAON BLAST CASE

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: A Maharashtra ATS team has left for Rajasthan to interrogate the three right-wing suspects caught for their alleged role in the 2007 Ajmer shrine blast. The ATS is probing the links between the arrested trio—Devendra Gupta, Chandra Shekhar and Vishnu Prasad—and Abhinav Bharat members held in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blast. Gupta is said to be a RSS member.

According to the Rajasthan ATS, the trio used a mobile phone to trigger a bomb at the 800-year-old shrine in Ajmer on October 11, 2007. Initially, the Ajmer police had claimed that Bangladesh’s banned outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) was behind the blast.

Maharashtra textile and minority affairs minister Arif Naseem Khan said, “I have spoken to the ATS chief Rakesh

Maria and he is sending his teams to question the suspects in Ajmer. The suspects could have links with Abhinav Bharat members, 11 of whom are lodged in our jails.’’ Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit are among those arrested for their alleged roles in the Malegaon blast.

The Maharashtra ATS had submitted a video CD in which Lt Col Prasad Purohit can allegedly be seen saying that his group had executed two more operations in the country. Sleuths believe that Purohit was referring to the blasts in Ajmer shrine and Hyderabad’s Mecca mosque. “The Hyderabad police had announced the name of HuJI man as a suspect in the Mecca mosque blast. It was for this reason that other security agencies kept quiet on Purohit’s role in the Hyderabad blast,’’ said a source in the ATS.

The Times of India, May 3, 2010

Wary chawl irked by Ansari spotlight

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: Residents of Batatawala chawl near Grant Road railway station are wary of Monday. That it is judgment day for the 26/11 accused is of little consequence to them. What bothers them is that irrespective of the verdict, their chawl will be in unwanted spotlight. For it was here that Mumbai-based 26/11 suspect Faheem Ansari is accused of renting a flat, an infamy that returns time and again to haunt the otherwise nondescript two-storey chawl.

The crime branch claimed that Ansari was initially hunting for a room near Badhwar Park at Cuffe Parade but when he did not get any, he rented one in this congested chawl to store arms and ammunition. Ansari is accused of drawing maps of some of the sites targetted during 26/11 by the Pakistani terrorists.

This correspondent’s enquiries at the chawl about room number 14 and its infamous former occupant drew the attention of a group of youths chatting nearby. “Who is Ansari? Is he an MLA that we should remember him?’’ asked one, even as two others asked him who was Ansari. “That terrorist caught along with Kasab,’’ the first replied. The conversation drew the attention of several others around. “Ansari never stayed here. You go back,’’ they cautioned. “The room which Ansari had rented is locked. The landlord is fed up with these things and she has gone to Kolhapur,’’ said another youth, refusing to let this correspondent even enter the chawl.

The residents’ fear is not without reason. The 60-year-old chawl made headlines several years ago when a woman was killed there.

Within a couple of minutes, several other boys gathered on the spot and started abusing Ansari and the media, resisting attempts to take photographs of the room where Ansari stayed. “Why are you people defaming our chawl? Why don’t you go to Ansari’s Goregaon residence and enquire there?’’ a resident said. Another was more vocal: “Why doesn’t the media understand these things? You people write anything about our chawl. What does this chawl have to do with Ansari?’’

The Times of India, May 3, 2010

Jail turns fortress ahead of 26/11 verdict

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: The city police is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that no untoward incident takes place on May 3—the day of final judgment. With the special court conducting 26/11 trial all set to pronounce its verdict on Monday, security in and around the high-security cell housing Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab has been stepped up.

For the last one-and-a-half year, Kasab (22)—the lone 26/11 terrorist to be captured alive—has been lodged at the Arthur Road jail. “We have received some intelligence alerts, but they are not specific,’’ said a senior police official. While one can see the deployment of Indo-Tibetan Boarder Police (ITBP) around the Arthur Road jail, the security for the judgment day will be increased, confirmed the official.

Restrictions were imposed on the movement of traffic around the jail after Kasab was moved there. “We have no special plan to stop traffic on the same route on Monday, but we are analysing the situation,’’ said the official.

Commandos from the Quick Response Team (QRT) have been deployed around all the four walls of the prison and local are being frisked regularly. Cops from the N M Joshi Marg, Byculla and several other police stations as well as personnel from the armed forces are on round-the-clock bandobast duty outside the jail. “Maintaining law and order is top priority. The whole wold would be watching the trial,’’ said the official.

The Times of India, May 1, 2010