Suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative and key 26/11 Mumbai terror attack handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal on Friday sought free legal aid from Jamait-ul-Ulema, an NGO. On Friday, Jundal, who is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail, was produced in the Mumbai court through a video conference in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case. The court was to frame charges against Jundal in the case, where he demanded a lawyer to defend him.

When the judge asked Jundal if he had engaged a lawyer, he replied in the negative and said that he wanted free legal aid from Jamait-ul-Ulema which provided the same to other accused.

The advocate for Jamait, Mohamad Ansar, who was present in the court, asked Jundal to make a formal application upon which the NGO would decide and inform him in two days.

The secretary of Jamait-ul-Ulema's legal cell Gulzar Azmi said that it had not received any application from Jundal or his family members so far. The NGO's policy is to provide free legal aid provided it is convinced that the accused is innocent. In this case also, the same yardstick would be applied, he said.

(With agency inputs)