Abu Jundal

New Delhi, June 26: Security agencies have launched a hunt for two associates of the alleged Hindi voice behind the Mumbai siege, sources said today, a day after Delhi police claimed they had netted “prize catch” Abu Jundal.

Officials said the two key associates were suspected to be hiding in Dubai.

“We have got their names and other details and our officials are trying to track them down. According to our information, the duo are also Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives and very close to Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal. They helped him find new recruits,” a senior IPS official said.

Jundal, 30, the alleged 26/11 handler who taught Hindi to the ten terrorists who attacked Mumbai in November 2008, was arrested after Saudi Arabian authorities deported him to Delhi on June 21.

Security agencies today hinted that Jundal, who is fluent in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, English and Marathi, could be brought face to face with Ajmal Kasab, the lone 26/11 gunman captured alive.

Jundal, under Delhi police custody till July 5, has been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Explosive Substances Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

“We would confront him (with Kasab) after getting his custody. Only then can we get the details of the entire conspiracy that was hatched in Pakistan to attack Mumbai,” a Mumbai police official said.

The operation to bring Jundal to India started almost a year ago after agencies got a tip-off about his whereabouts. Jundal was finally bundled into a Delhi-bound plane on Thursday by Saudi Arabian authorities after intense negotiations.

A Mumbai police team, camping in Delhi for the past three days, today moved a court here seeking Jundal’s custody.

The court directed Delhi police to respond by tomorrow after their counterparts submitted an application along with a request letter issued by a Mumbai court for producing Jundal.

Mumbai police official Niket Kaushik said a production warrant had been submitted before the Delhi court as the 26/11 case was registered with the Mumbai crime branch.

Delhi police, which remained tight-lipped about the arrest for four days, claimed yesterday that Jundal was present in the control room set up at Karachi to handle the 26/11 attackers and instructed them on their satellite phones.

After interrogating him through the day, senior police officials said Jundal had been instructed by Lashkar operative Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi to go to Dubai after the 26/11 attack.

“He told us he was sent to Dubai to arrange for funds and also to find recruits. Most of his recruits were Indians. He has also revealed to us the existence of several Lashkar sleeper cells in India,” said an official who was part of the team that questioned Jundal.

“He also revealed to us the presence of a couple of ISI officials along with him in the control room in Karachi. We need to corroborate everything and his confrontation with Kasab is very important,” the official added.

Jundal, a native of Beed, Maharashtra, is also an accused in the Aurangabad arms haul case of 2006, when a huge cache of explosives and weapons were seized from two vehicles. He had then managed to give Mumbai police the slip.

Police sources today claimed that Jundal had confessed to have worked under Lakhvi, whom India considers the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.