Abu Jundal to get Kasab-like security in custody of Mumbai Police

 MUMBAI: Zabihuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal's first home in Mumbai, once he is in the Mumbai police's custody, will be the Crime Branch Unit-I lock-up at police headquarters near Crawford Market. It is the same lock-up where 26/11 gunman Ajmal Kasab was lodged during investigations. In the lock-up, police sources said his security would be on par with Kasab's.
After the lock-up, Jundal would be moved to the Anti-Terrorism Squad's (ATS) custody. Finally, he would be taken to Arthur Road Jail, where his terror pupil Kasab is. Sources said that Jundal would be kept in a specially designed cell at Arthur Road. Though it might not be as strong as Kasab's cell, it would be stronger than an anda cell and could be in an isolated place in the jail.
The Crime Branch lock-up is a drab, ground-plus-three-storey building that has housed don Dawood Ibrahim's younger brother Iqbal Kaskar, Dawood aide Ejaz Pathan and serial killer Vijay Palande. The building is guarded by at least six armed cops. The number could be increased. There are two policemen on each floor. Additional cops would be placed outside Jundal's cell. Whenever Jundal is taken for interrogation to the nearby Unit-1 office, at least one armed carbon-wielding cop and four to six other cops would escort him. An extra police vehicle would accompany the vehicle he is ferried in. This would make Jundal better guarded than Iqbal Kaskar was.
"Each floor in this building has four small cells. There is no fan and two tube-lights in the passageway for the four rooms. An accused gets food prepared by a government-approved contractor and water from a common tap. There are neither fans nor pillows," said a police official. The lock-up is monitored with CCTV cameras. Currently, there are prisoners on the first floor; the two upper floors are empty. For security reasons, no other prisoner would be lodged on Jundal's floor. The lock-up is considered one of the safest places to keep an accused, as no civilians or visitors are allowed there. Sources said a review is on over increasing security for Jundal.
Once the Crime Branch investigation is over, Jundal will be taken by the ATS which is probing the German Bakery bomb blast and 2006 Aurangbad arms haul cases. Jundal could be kept at the ATS's Kalachowkie unit, where suspects in the 2006 and 2008 Malegaon blasts, 11/7 train blasts and 13/7 blasts were lodged. The ATS could also keep Jundal at the Bhoiwada lock-up near the Bhoiwada police station.
Once Jundal's police custody is over and he is sent to judicial custody, he will be sent to Arthur Road jail. It houses over 2,000 inmates -- mostly undertrials, except for convicts like Kasab. Kasab has been kept in a highly protected separate cell. Jail authorities said talks are on about Jundal's cell. The police would not risk keeping Jundal in the anda cell, which is meant for serious offenders, since a terror suspect, Qateel Siddiqui, was strangled to death in an anda cell in Pune this month.

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