July 28: Abu Jundal alias Syed Zaibuddin Ansari, who was the handler in 26/11 terror attacks, was hatching a plan to eliminate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) judge on Thursday upheld the prosecution’s claim that the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case was a part of the larger conspiracy to kill Modi and Vishva Hindu Parishad’s Pravin Togadia, the 2002 Gujarat riots, after the infamous burning of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra.
The case is related to the arrests of several suspects between 2006 and 2009, who wanted to kill several Gujarat leaders who were accused in the killings in 2002 riots in the state. The 22 accused in the case had obtained large amounts of explosives and arms and ammunition, allegedly to target the politicians. However, acting on a tip-off the Maharashtra Anti-terror sqad folied the plan. On May 8, 2006, a car chase on the Chandwad-Manmad Highway near Aurangabad ended with the arrests of three terror suspects — Mohammed Aamir Shakil Ahmed, Mohammed Juber Sayyed Anwar and Abdul Azeem Abdul Jameel Shaikh alias Raja. ALSO READ: Aurangabad arms haul case: 12 including Abu Jundal convicted, 8 acquitted by MCOCA court
One car had however, managed to give the ATS and the police a slip and Jundal was driving that car. That car was later recovered by the police with 30 kg RDX packed in cental processing unit (CPU) of computer, 10 AK-47 assault rifles and 3,200 bullets. Jundal escaped to Malegaon and from there to Bangladesh. He was finally deported to India by Saudi Arabia in 2012, and had later revealed the whereabouts of another hideout from where 13 kg RDX, 1200 cartridges, 50 hand grenades, 22 magazine rounds were recovered. On Thursday, 12 people including Jundal were convicted, while eight others were acquitted.
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