Court rejects bail plea of 26/11 accused

The trial court today rejected the bail application of Faheem Ansari, an accused in the 26/11 terror attack case, observing that the grounds on which the bail has been sought are baseless.

Faheem on Saturday had sought to be released on bail so that he could search for a lawyer for himself, after his lawyer Shahid Azmi was shot dead by three assailants last week.

Faheem in his bail plea has alleged that officials from the crime branch are responsible for the death of his lawyer and that in May last year crime branch police had threatened Azmi to withdraw from the case.

"No one is ready to take up my case as my lawyer Azmi was shot dead," Faheem said.

He further claimed that he has been falsely implicated in the case and that it was David Headley who had guided the 26/11 terrorists with maps and sketches and not him as alleged by the prosecution.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam opposed the plea stating that the maps recovered from slain terrorist Abu Ismail was prepared by Faheem.

"The Lucknow police in whose custody Faheem was prior to the 26/11 attack had also recovered a similar map from him," Nikam said, adding if Faheem was released on bail he would flee.

Special Judge M L Tahiliyani remarked that the allegations are baseless and rejected the bail.