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Chargesheet filed against Jundal

Nashik: Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad today filed a chargesheet before a local court against 26/11 Mumbai attack's key handler and LeT operative Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in connection the conspiracy to attack city-based Maharashtra Police Academy.

Special Public Prosecutor Ajay Misar said the ATS today filed a 58-page chargesheet before Chief Judicial Magistrate A D Sawant.

Jundal was brought to India last year from Saudi Arabia.

There are nine accused in the case, seven of them still absconding. According to ATS, suspected LeT operative Bilal Shaikh, who was trained by Jundal, had hatched the conspiracy to attack the Academy in 2010, before Shaikh was arrested.

Court has allowed ATS to serve chargesheet on Jundal at Mumbai prison, where he has been lodged in connection with Aurangabad arms haul case. 

Kurien to meet Sonia on rape row

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien has sought time to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The attempt to meet Sonia Gandhi comes hours after the Suryanelli rape victim's mother wrote to Sonia asking her to intervene in the interest of justice for her daughter.

The gangrape victim has named PJ Kurien as one of the men who assaulted her in 1996. Kurien has said he is a victim of political conspiracy.

The Left led opposition in Kerala has begun a campaign for a reinvestigation into Kurien's role following the Supreme Court quashing the High Court's acquittal of all the accused. Kurien, however, has been maintaining that he has never been indicted by any court. 

Sri Lankan President embarks on private visit to India

Colombo: President Mahinda Rajapaksa today left for a two-day personal visit to India during which he will offer prayers at Bodh Gaya and Tirupathi but will not engage with Indian leaders.

He would visit Bodh Gaya and Tirupathi and the visit was of a personal nature, the presidential officials said here.

Rajapaksa would not be visiting New Delhi, officials asserted, dismissing notions that the Sri Lankan President might engage some of the Indian leaders with a view to seek New Delhi's support on the US moved resolution against Sri Lanka at the next UN Human Rights Council sessions in March.

Sri Lankan forces had crushed Tamil rebels in May 2009 after nearly three decades of brutal fighting. The conflict claimed up to 1,00,000 lives, according to UN estimates, and both sides are accused of war crimes.

Sri Lanka while formulating an action plan for implementation maintained that most of the recommendations were already put in to effect.

I move around in Pakistan like an ordinary person: Hafiz Saeed

New York: LeT chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who has a USD 10 million US bounty on his head, has said that he moves around like an "ordinary person" in Pakistan and his fate is not in the hands of America.

"I move about like an ordinary person, that's my style," he said in an interview to the New York Times.

"My fate is in the hands of God, not America," said 64-year-old Saeed, whose compound in Lahore is a "fortified house, office and mosque".

 The New York Times report said Saeed is shielded not only by his supporters who wield "Kalashnikovs" outside his door but also by the Pakistani state.

Saeed, who has been addressing large public meetings and made prime-time television appearances, said he is now talking to Western news media outlets to correct "misperceptions".

The Lashkar-e-Taiba chief claimed his name had been cleared by the Pakistani courts. "Why does the US not respect our judicial system?" Saeed said, adding that he has nothing against Americans.