Mumbai: Pakistani-born Canadian national Tahawwur Hussain Rana (64), alleged conspirator in the 26/11 terror attacks, is likely to be lodged in barrack number 12 in Arthur Road jail if and when he is brought to the city to face trial. Barrack number 12 is the same building where Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab was kept in a bomb-proof cell before he was executed in Nov 2012.
“So far, no instructions have been issued. Once he is brought here, we will see where to keep him,” said a senior jail official.
The Mumbai Central Prison, commonly referred to as Arthur Road jail, was built in 1925 and is spread over an area of around three acres. It has an official capacity of 1,100 but on average it houses around 4,000 inmates, inviting complaints of overcrowding and unhygienic conditions for undertrials. Barrack number 12 is unique in that it is a more secure area, separate from the general barracks and not all its cells are occupied. In Kasab’s time, the building even had its own kitchen.
A jail source said, “Rana could be lodged in one of the three cells located on the ground floor of barrack number 12.” The building, a ground plus one structure, has three rooms on the first floor, one of which was occupied by Kasab during his trial while the other two lay vacant. On the ground floor, one room was used by Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel deployed for security during the trial. This room was vacant after Kasab was hanged and later renovated with the plan to lodge Vijay Mallya, the fugitive liquor baron, if he is extradited by the UK in a money laundering case. Exhaust fans and commodes were installed and rooms repainted. Cells in this building are ‘anda’ or egg-shaped, which gave rise to the moniker, ‘anda cell’.
Former deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal, his nephew Sameer, 26/11 handler Zabihuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, who was deported from Saudi Arabia, are among those who were housed in these cells. There are other Anda cells too in the jail where several gangsters and terror suspects are lodged.