Clean chit for Faheem, Ahmed?

The High Court came across another bump in the road while attempting to come to a conclusion with regard to judgment for Ajmal Amir Qasab's accomplices during the 26/11 terror attack.

The arguments in the case of Qasab ended yesterday in the high court and the order was reserved till February 7.

While the Qasab case has been an open and shut one from the onset, passing judgment for Sabaudeen Ahmed and Faheem Ansari, co-conspirators in the 26/11 attacks, has been coming up against a dead end.

It has been alleged that Faheem prepared the Mumbai maps and handed them over to Ahmed in Nepal, which he in turn handed over to LeT operatives, which were then used by the ten terrorists during the attacks.

However, the special court acquitted the two accused due to lack of evidence. According to police, one of the maps made by Ansari was found in the pockets of Abu Ismail, who was with Qasab during the 26/11 attack.

On December 21, the high court heard Faheem's acquittal appeal in the 26/11 case. Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam argued that the trial court had erred in acquitting Faheem and Ahmed.

He also said that the two are co-conspirators in the 26/11 terror attack case and had cheated the Pakistani government by obtaining a passport, using a fictitious name and fabricated documents.

Faheem's lawyer, R B Mokashi, however, argued that the evidence was weak and claimed that the map alleged to have been drawn up by Faheem and found in slain terrorist Abu Ismail's pocket, was planted.

Ahmed's lawyer, Ejaz Naqvi, said that Ahmed had no role in the 26/11 attacks and that evidence against him was weak and could not be corroborated.

"We expect a clean chit for Ahmed, as there is hardly any evidence against him.

There has been one witness Nooroddin, who said that he saw Faheem handing the map to Ahmed, but his statement is not corroborating with other things," said, Naqvi.