30-year-old Sayed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal also told sleuths during his interrogation for the last five days that the spirit of top Lashker-e-Taiba(LeT) cadres including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was dampened due to the arrest of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman, and prolonging of the Mumbai terror strike. The siege lasted 60 hours.
A resident of Georai of Beed district in Maharashtra, the accused told interrogators that he been summoned by Muzamil of Lashker ahead of the attack and 10 boys were handed over to him for teaching them Hindi language.
Barely few days ahead of the attack, he was again summoned from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir(PoK) and was instructed to teach the 10 terrorists about some common words used in Mumbai city and also tell them how to look like a 'Mumbaikar'.
There, the accused said, it was decided to tie 'moli' (sacred thread) around the wrist of the terrorists and make them look like students, according to the interrogation report of Zabiuddin accessed today.
The Lashker top brass was hopeful that the terror strike will end within 24 hours but as the news of arrest of Kasab hit the television screens, panic gripped within the control room at Karachi, the accused said.
On November 27, the accused was directed by Lakhvi, who was present at the 'Control room' along with Abu Qahafa, Abu Al Qama, Sajid Majid and Zarar Shah, to return to his hideout in Muzaffarabad as the operation had become too big for them to handle.
On November 30, 2008, a meeting between Muzamil and Lakhvi took place where the latter expressed his disappointment over the way the terror strike got prolonged and also the arrest of Kasab, the accused said during his interrogation.
Zabiuddin said he had been directed by LeT bosses to remain in Saudi Arabia and look for possible recruits, especially those coming from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. (MORE)