MUMBAI, Sept. 20 -- Fifteen years after he was cleared of all charges in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case, Fahim Ansari is still battling the shadow of suspicion. On Friday, the state govt told HC that his application for a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) - a requirement to drive a commercial auto-rickshaw - had been turned down because he continues to be under watch for suspected links with a banned terror outfit. "There is a confidential report as per which Ansari is still under watch on suspicion that he is a member of a banned terror outfit," public prosecutor Mankhuwar Deshmukh told the Bombay High Court on Friday. The court was hearing a petition filed by Fahim Arshad Mohammad Yusuf Ansari, 51, who has challenged the rejection of his PCC. Ansari, one of the two Indians acquitted in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case, applied for a PCC earlier this year to obtain a commercial auto-rickshaw permit. His application was turned down by the Mumbai police, citing alleged links with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). In his plea, Ansari argued the rejection was "arbitrary, discriminatory, and seeped in prejudice," saying it deprived him of his right to livelihood. He pointed out that his acquittal in the 26/11 case was upheld by both the HC and the SC. Arrested in January 2009 for allegedly providing hand-drawn maps later used by the attackers, Ansari was acquitted in 2010 along with co-accused Sabauddin Ahmed. However, he later served a prison term in Uttar Pradesh in a separate case linked to the 2007 Rampur CRPF camp attack, before being released in 2019. Since losing his job at a Byculla printing press during the pandemic, Ansari has struggled to find stable work....