Fahim Ansari, the alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative arrested for his role in the recent Mumbai attacks, informed the court on Thursday that three foreigners, including a woman officer, interrogated him in Crime Branch custody.

Ansari was produced before the 37th court along with co-accused Sabbauddin Ahmed and the duo was remanded to further police custody till February 17.

Ansari was taken into custody for his alleged role in a case of murder and conspiracy of Amar Narayan, the captain and navigator of the Indian trawler M V Kuber which was used by the Mumbai attackers to alight a few nautical miles off the Mumbai shore. Ansari’s lawyer Ejaz Naqvi had moved an application on Tuesday before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, N Shrimangle Shrimangle, seeking to bar the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) from investigating Fahim as it was against the law.

Naqvi in his application had stated that under the Indian law there were no provisions to allow a foreign agency to interrogate any accused. Moreover, the FBI is non-concerned with the investigations, therefore it is a violation of the law if the Crime Branch gives access to FBI to interrogate Ansari. 

The FBI has interacted with top officers of the Crime Branch to exchange information on the 26/11 attacks in a bid to prevent copy cat attacks in the US.

Judge Shrimangle accordingly issued a notice to the Crime Branch seeking a reply to be filed on February 9.

Ansari and Sabauddin were arrested from Uttar Pradesh for their alleged role of conspiracy of the terror attacks along with the nine dead terrorists and Kasab. The police have stated that the duo had done a recee of the targets and made maps of it and supplied to the LeT mastermind in Pakistan.