Mumbai attackers’ handler may be an Indian: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI - The government Thursday admitted that at least one of the 26/11 terror handlers could be an Indian but the true identity of the person was yet to be ascertained.

There was a handler in 26/11 whom we have known for long, or suspected for a long time, could be an Indian. That’s something we have known for many, many months now. He goes by the name Abu Jindal, but that is not his real name, Home Minister P. Chidambaram told CNBC-TV18 channel in an interview.

However, the home minister said the ambiguity would linger unless the mysterious person’s voice sample was obtained.

Chidamabaram pointed out that the person in question could have infiltrated India long back to familiarise himself with the language.

He could have infiltrated into India and lived here long enough to acquire an Indian accent, familiarity with… or he could be somebody who exfiltrated from India to Pakistan and was adopted by the militants there, said the minister.

Now we can’t get a finger on who he is, unless we get a voice sample.

And they (Pakistan) won’t give us voice samples. Now there could be speculation that Abu Jindal could be A, Abu Jundal could be B. Now you may be right in your speculation, but how as home minister can you speculate? he queried.

I can’t speculate. Secondly, when we say he could be an Indian, he could be somebody who has acquired Indian characteristics.

Abul Jindal, said Chidamabaram, was one of the alleged masterminds of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.

It is believed that his real name could be Syed Zabiuddin Ansari. He is wanted in the Aurangabad arms haul case as well as well as for plotting to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Ansari hails from Aurangabad in Maharashtra.