Fahim Ansari, Sabauddin to be tried in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW - Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, who were let off Monday by a Mumbai special court in the 26/11 terror attack case, will be tried in Uttar Pradesh for the 2008 attack on a paramilitary camp in Rampur, police said.

“Their links with the Mumbai attackers, including Ajmal Kasab, were revealed during the course of their interrogation after their arrest for the armed attack on the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) camp,” Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal told a press conference here Monday evening.

“Though they have been acquitted by the Mumbai court, they would still be tried here for their involvement in the Rampur attack,” Lal said.

The attack, on Dec 31, 2007 night left seven Central Reserve Police Force personnel and one civilian dead.

Ansari was picked up from Rampur, while Sabauddin was arrested from a hideout in Lucknow Feb 10, 2008. Both have allegedly received training in Pakistani based Lashkar-e-Taiba camps.

After a few Mumbai maps were recovered from their possession, the Uttar Pradesh police informed their counterparts in Maharastra, who sought their remand.

The two were eventually charged for their alleged nexus with Kasab and the nine other Pakistani terrorists who unleashed terror in Mumbai in November 2008.

However, the Mumbai court did not see anything incriminating about the maps recovered from the possession of the two men.

Refuting the argument that their acquittal by the Mumbai court had weakened the Uttar Pradesh police case, Lal maintained, “We have sufficient evidence to establish their involvement in the CRPF centre attack and I am confident they will not be able to escape conviction in that case.”