1993 Mumbai Blast Accused Farooq Takla Not Cooperating With Investigation, CBI Tells Court

Mumbai: The CBI, on Monday, informed the Special TADA court that Farooq Yasin Mansoor aka Farooq Takla, an accused in the 1993 blast case who was recently arrested by the agency, is not cooperating with the investigations.

The court has remanded the accused in further CBI custody till March 28. Takla who is believed to be an active conspirator in the 1993 blast accused along with Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim and others was arrested on March 8 from Delhi airport after he was extradited from Dubai.

Deepak Salvi, Public Prosecutor, informed the court that the accused has been found deeply involved in the conspiracy and that several facts of the case are yet to be revealed by him. "The accused is not coming out with true facts within his exclusive knowledge so far as his role in the criminal conspiracy as an active conspirator and perpetrator in this case along with other accused like Dawood Ibrahim and Anees Ibrahim are concerned," reads the remand copy of the CBI.

The remand application further states that the accused had procured a fake passport in 2011 in the assumed name of Mustak Mohammed Miya. "Investigation is required to find out the modus operandi adopted by him to obtain this passport. The forgery aspect needs to be investigated. He has not disclosed the details concerning this during interrogation," said Salvi.

According to the CBI, Takla helped and aided the transportation of four accused in the blast case. He helped them move from Mumbai to Pakistan via Dubai and back. He also helped in their logistics such as arranging air tickets and finding accommodation. The four accused had travelled to Pakistan to receive arms and ammunition and get training in handling explosives. Salvi informed the court his custody is required to understand who else was involved with him to help in the logistics as well as the larger conspiracy.

Farhana Shah, lawyer of Takla, however, opposed further custody and told the court that since charge-sheet is filed and investigations are completed, there is no requirement of further custody. She also went on to tell the court that the person that have been arrested by the name Farooq Takla is not the person who has been named as an absconding accused in the case. The court, however, observed that in order to delve deep into the facts of such a serious case, the custody of the accused is required.