Forced to sign blank papers, suspected terrorist tells court

Suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative Abu Jundal Monday told a court here that he was forced to sign some documents and blank papers by National Investigation Agency (NIA) personnel and Maharashtra Police.

Meanwhile, the NIA supplied a copy of the chargesheet filed against him to his counsel M.S. Khan.

Jundal told District Judge I.S. Mehta that he was forced to sign some documents and blank papers by the investigating agencies, court sources said. The court has posted the matter for further hearing to Jan 18, 2014.

Presently lodged in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail, Jundal spoke in court through video conferencing.

In the chargesheet, NIA said that Jundal taught Hindi to the 10 operatives who were involved in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. It was alleged that Jundal joined LeT and went to Nepal to meet its commander Abdul Aziz for training in bomb making in November 2005.

During training at the LeT camp he came in touch with top LeT operatives including its chief Hafiz Saeed, Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, the NIA added.

In the chargesheet the NIA also said that Jundal was recruiting people to the banned outfit to carry out terror strikes in India.

Jundal was deported to India from Saudi Arabia in June 2012 for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to commit terror attacks within the country.

NIA booked Jundal under various terror charges.