National

Mumbai attacks case: Financier of the attack being probed

September 8, 2016

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The prosecution in the Mumbai attacks case informed the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) that suspected financier in the Mumbai attack was still being investigated and ordered Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to submit a separate challan to the court on September 22.

The FIA has dropped charges against a suspect in the Mumbai attack case after failing to find any incriminating evidence. The FIA submitted a charge sheet before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) and placed the suspect, Sufiyan Zafar, in the second column of the charge sheet, which means no evidence was found against him.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last month arrested Sufyan Zafar on the charge of financing the Nov 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

The accused had been declared a proclaimed offender in 2011 when the ATC indicted seven people, including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind.

According to FIA documents, Zafar, son of Mujtaba Hussain, an ex-activist of the banned Lashkar-i-Tayyaba (LeT), was “one of the financiers of the defunct LeT. He transferred Rs 14,800 in a bank account and during investigation told that he transferred the said money to his brother’s account.

The FIA has booked Zafar under Sections 7/11-V (fundraising for terrorism), 21-C and 21-I (training and abetting the terrorists) of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, Section 302 (murder) and 109 (aiding) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), and Sections 11/17 and 19 (misuse of encryption, cyber terrorism and attempt to commit offence) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance.

The Special Investigation Unit of the FIA on February 12, 2009, registered the FIR against the suspects, including Sufyan Zafar, for their alleged connivance in the Mumbai attacks.

FIA deputy director (legal) Waseem Ranjha during an in-camera proceeding informed the special judge of the ATC that they were interrogating the accused in Adiala Jail.

He assured the court that the challan against the accused would be submitted to the court on September 22.

Sources in the prosecution told media that after the submission of the challan the court would indict the accused.

On September 22, a commission comprising the ATC judge, defence counsel, court officials and others would examine the boat, record a statement, and cross-examine a witness in Karachi.

Over 166 people were killed and over 300 wounded when gunmen attacked landmarks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, triggering three days of gunfights.

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and the other suspects – Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjum – have been under trial in the ATC since 2009.

Lakhvi was granted bail in December 2014 and was subsequently released from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on April 10, 2015, after the Lahore High Court set aside the government’s order to detain him under the Maintenance of Public Order law.