US Nokia employee deposes in 26/11 case

The prosecution in 26/11 case examined on Friday a senior official of Nokia based in the US via videoconferencing on Friday after recording the statement of a Gurgaon-based employee of the company, tracing the trail of the five mobile phones allegedly used by the terrorists.

The enforcement manager of Nokia Incorporated, Texas, told the court that the company records had revealed the mobile handsets seized by the Mumbai police were manufactured in China and shipped to Pakistan in June 2008. As per the court order, the officer’s name cannot be disclosed.

The information was culled out on the basis of the handsets’ unique International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers.

Additional sessions judge ML Tahaliyani asked the witness: “Is it possible to access the database anywhere else in the world?” She replied: “It is possible. The companies who have a password to the database can access it.”

After the deposition of the witness, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said: “The cooperation of FBI officers shows that America is helping us in countering terrorism.”
During cross-examination by defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi, the witness said, “The database should be available in the Indian office [of Nokia].” She also admitted that she didn’t have any first-hand knowledge of the information and was only gleaning the details from their database.

“This is only a big drama. They could have easily got an Indian witness to say this,” said Kazmi.

On Thursday, a representative from Yamaha deposed that the Yamaha motor, used by the 26/11 terrorists, was shipped from Japan to a Lahore-based company. Sources said the database is available in India. However, a Yamaha employee in Mumbai, G Rajkumar, had deposed in May that the Yamaha engine was not imported to India or sold in India.