26/11 Mumbai attacks handler Abu Jundal's custody given to ATS Mumbai

NEW DELHI: The custody of alleged 26/11 key handler Abu Jundal was today given by a Delhi court to Mumbai ATS to probe his role in various terror cases of Maharashtra after the Delhi Police said it no longer required his custody.

While granting Jundal's custody to Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Sqaud (ATS), Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vinod Yadav reminded it that after they finsih interrogating Jundal, the alleged terror master mind has to be brought back to Delhi as the NIA and other agencies too have sought his custody.

Jundal was produced before CMM Yadav after the expiry of his 30-days' custody with the Delhi Police which quizzed him about the 2010 Jama Masjid blast and other terror strikes in the Capital.

The 30-year-old Jundal, allegedly associated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba, is wanted by the Mumbai ATS in connection with four cases -- Aurangabad arms haul case, the 26/11 Mumbai mayhem, the German bakery blast and the Nasik Academy attack.

The court gave Jundal's custody to ATS Mumbai, asking it to produce him before the Mumbai's CMM and left it to the metropolitan court there to decide as to in which of the four cases his custody is to be given back to the Mumbai ATS.

"The CMM Mumbai would be at liberty to consider comparative merits and requirement of aforesaid cases and grant custody of this accused (Jundal) accordingly," the court said.

Meanwhile, Jundal's counsel M S Khan prayed to the court that media be restrained from publishing his client's photographs as he is being produced in court in a muffled face and publishing his pictures could affect his defence. The court allowed the plea.