26/11 chargesheet: No mention of local link

The much-talked about local link in the Mumbai 26/11 attack finds no mention in the chargesheet filed on Wednesday.

The mammoth chargesheet makes no mention of any local assistance that was provided to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba to carry out attacks in Mumbai.

This puts an end to the confusion regarding the local link to this attack which was started off by the Mumbai police who initially stated that certain "local persons" had helped carried out this attack.

The only two terrorists of an Indian origin who find a mention in the chargesheet are Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin -- who helped carry out a survey in the city so that the attacks could be carried out.

An investigating officer told rediff.com that they probed into the local link to the case, but nothing concrete emerged. He also added that this puts the onus back on Pakistan, which has to bring to justice or hand over the accused mentioned in the chargesheet to India.

Initially, when the investigations into the case commenced, the police had gone in depth regarding the 'local angle".

First, the police tried to find out whether there was any handler within India who helped terrorists come to Indian.

Second, the police also looked into the role played by modules in South India and also in Kolkata.

While investigations in South pertained to the supply of identification cards to terrorists, the Kolkata angle was being probed as it was believed that a module over there had supplied SIM cards to terrorists.

However, during the course of the investigation it was revealed that the entire attack was planned in Pakistan and there was no Indian angle barring the role played by Ansari and Sabahuddin.