With the 26/11 trial set to begin on March 23, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch has begun coordinating with central agencies to get background information on the Pakistanis named as wanted accused in its chargesheet. This is being done in a bid to get Interpol red-corner notices (RCNs) issued.

Since many of those named as wanted accused have been identified only by aliases, the police need to cross reference these names with central agencies to get specific details about them, sources said.

“Once the court declares the wanted accused as proclaimed absconders, the process of issuing red-corner notices will begin. Work on gathering information is already under way,” said a senior police official, who did not wish to be named.

On February 25, the Crime Branch had filed an over-11000-page chargesheet against Ajmal Ameer Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive, and two alleged local Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives, Faheem Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed. A total of 35 Pakistanis were named as wanted accused.

While the police have extensive information on some of the wanted accused, such as LeT top brass Hafeez Muhammed Saeed alias Hafiz Saab, Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza, Abu Al Kama, Muzammil alias Yusuf and Zarar Shah, many of the others are known only by aliases or first names such as Abu Anas or Abu Bashir.

The Crime Branch has also mentioned two of the wanted accused with military designations to their names — Colonel R Saadat Ullah and Major General Saab.

“It is not necessary to have a photograph of the wanted accused or to fill all the information criteria for a red-corner notice. We are co-ordinating with central agencies to collect as much information as possible. These details will be mentioned in the notice,” said the officer.

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