The six Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sleuths deposing in the 26/11 trial have requested the prosecution to protect their identities.
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on Thursday told the court that he received communication from the FBI stating that the identities should be kept under wraps. “They suggested an in-camera deposition. We made it clear that in our country trial takes place in an open court,” Nikam said.
The prosecution also made a plea for issuing summons to the FBI officers.
Additional sessions judge ML Tahaliyani said that Nikam would have to answer his query on whether there is a provision in which names of witnesses can be undisclosed in such a case.
The witnesses are connected with the technical evidence that was collected using the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) facility situated in New Jersey, used by the terrorists while the attack was on.
The prosecution stated that the FBI sleuths collected some “clinching evidence”.
But the agency officers are apprehensive “about potential danger to their lives”.
Besides, the agency investigates terror-related cases independently in other countries and their identities should be protected “so that they can carry out operations for avoiding such terror attacks in future”.
