A second and supplementary chargesheet against five LeT operatives accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks, including its operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was today filed before an anti-terror court in the garrison city of Rawalpindi by Pakistani investigators.
A second and supplementary chargesheet against five LeT operatives accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks, including its operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was today filed before an anti-terror court in the garrison city of Rawalpindi by Pakistani investigators.
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The investigators from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which probed the Mumbai attacks, submitted the chargesheet to the court, following which the judge adjourned till July 25 the trial, which is being held in-camera in the high-security Adiala Jail.
The five accused -- Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Abu al Qama, Shahid Jamil Riaz and Hamad Amin Sadiq -- were given copies of the second and supplementary chargesheet. Earlier on May 5, the court had distributed copies of the first chargesheet among the suspects.
Sources said the five Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives are expected to be formally indicted at the next hearing. The trial resumed today following the appointment of Justice Baqir Ali Rana as the new judge for anti-terror court number 2 in Rawalpindi.
Special Public Prosecutor Malik Rab Nawaz Noon represented the federal government. There had been no movement in the case since May 23 as Justice Sakhi Muhammad Kahut, who was earlier hearing the matter, was removed as part of judicial reforms.
Shahbaz Rajput, the counsel for the accused, told PTI that today's proceedings were a "pre-trial hearing." A new dossier on the Mumbai attacks handed over by Pakistan to India last week states that the LeT was responsible for the assault.
It also says that Lakhvi was the mastermind of the attacks. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said last week that the trial of the five LeT operatives could now get underway as Pakistani investigators had completed their probe.
After Justice Kahut was removed from the case as part of judicial reforms, The Federal Investigation Agency approached Justice Muhammad Akram Awan, the judge of anti-terror court number 1, to take up the case and he repeatedly adjourned the matter.
The trial of the five LeT operatives is being held in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi due to security reasons.
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