Faheem Ansari, also known as Mohammad Faheem Ansari, is an Indian Muslim who was charged with involvement in the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of Terrorism, terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from P ...

on false grounds. He was also charged with being a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an Islamic terrorist organization. All these allegations were proven wrong. He was arrested in February 2009 along with five others, charged with these crimes and prosecuted, but was acquitted after being given benefit of doubt. The late Shahid Azmi was his lawyer and fought his case ''

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

.'' Faheem Ansari was discharged by court in May 2010, a few months after Shahid Azmi's death by gunmen in February 2010. He was released after 12 years of detention because of a case, in which he was acquitted because of lack of evidence.

Background

Ansari's family was originally from Uttar Pradesh, but he was born and raised in Mumbai. He is married to Yasmin, with whom he has a daughter, Iqra. In 2007, he returned to Mumbai and stayed there for about three months. Though his parents and brothers were residing in the

Goregaon Goregaon ( �oːɾeɡaːʋ is a suburb of Mumbai city, in the Mumbai Suburban district of India. It has a railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Western Line. An extension of the Harbour Line was completed in 2018 because of w ...

suburb of the city, he made no attempt to contact them during his entire stay. He first stayed at a guest house in Grant Road, but after a few weeks rented a small accommodation. Ansari had initially planned on renting an accommodation in

Colaba Colaba (; or ISO: Kolābā) is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Kolbhat ...

, but due to the high rent there, decided to settle at Grant Road. The

Mumbai police The Mumbai Police (Marathi: मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Mumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay Police'') is the police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of Maharashtra Police and has the primary responsibiliti ...

alleged that Ansari did a reconnaissance of several prominent Mumbai landmarks, including the

Mumbai Stock Exchange BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange. It is located on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Established in 1875 by cotton merchant Premchand Roychand, a Jain businessman, it is the oldest stock exchange in ...

, the Mumbai police headquarters at Crawford Market, the Maharashtra police headquarters at Colaba, the Mahalakshmi Temple and the Siddhivinayak temple. Ansari went to the

Taj Hotel Taj Hotels is a chain of luxury hotels and a subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company Limited, headquartered in Mumbai, India. Incorporated by Jamsetji Tata in 1902, the company is a part of the Tata Group, one of India's largest business conglom ...

and Oberoi Trident as a tourist and shot video footage of the interiors.

Arrest

On 10 February 2008, Uttar Pradesh police arrested Ansari along with five others. These included Pakistani nationals Romez alias "Amar Singh" and Sehwez alias "Ajay Malhotra" and Indian nationals Sohel, Sawauddin (or Sabauddin) Sanju and Baba Jung Bahadur. He was arrested for his involvement with an attack on a Central Reserve Police Force camp in Rampur on 31 December 2007, in which 7 paramilitary personnel and 1 civilian were killed. The interrogation revealed that Ansari had performed reconnaissance over twelve places in Mumbai, including government, police, transportation, tourist and financial sites over the course of two months. However, Ansari later alleged that the

conveniently made him a scapegoat and deliberately falsified evidence against him.

Alleged role in the Mumbai attacks and acquittal

On 31 December 2008, Ansari, along with Sabahuddin Shaikh, was formally accused of aiding the November 2008 attackers in Bombay. The interrogation of

Ajmal Qasab Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab (13 July 1987 – 21 November 2012) was a Pakistani terrorist and a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist fighter organization, through which he took part in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in Maharashtr ...

and of Ansari, revealed that none of the attackers had been in the city before the attacks, and acted solely on intelligence provided by Ansari. On 11 February 2010, his lawyer Shahid Azmi was murdered in what was suspected by authorities to be a professional

contract killing Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

. On 3 May 2010, Ansari and the co-accused Sabahuddin Shaikh were acquitted of any complicity in the attacks. In the acquittal, the Judge blasted the Bombay police for the case it made against him and Sabahuddin Shaikh. They were shifted from Arthur Road Jail to Uttar Pradesh to stand trial in connection with the CRPF camp attack at Rampur in 2007.

Sexual harassment

Advocate Ejaz Naqvi, the lawyer for Ansari, presented in court an allegation that a female FBI agent had removed all of Ansari's clothes and showed him pornographic films. Naqvi also requested that Ansari be taken for a medical examination. The court asked the Crime Branch to investigate and report by 26 February 2009, and ordered the medical examination. Ansari had earlier questioned the right of FBI agents to interrogate him.

Citations

References