26/11 terror attack: Mumbai Court to pronounce verdict tomorrow

Mumbai, May 2 (ANI): A Mumbai Special Court is all set to decide the fate of lone surviving Pakistani terrorist of 26/11 Mumbai attack, Ajmal Ameer Kasab and two Indian conspirators-Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, on Monday.

Monday’s judgment is coming seventeen months after the incident.

The trial, perhaps the fastest in a terror case in India, had commenced on May 8, 2009 in a special court set up at Arthur Road Jail.

Judge M L Tahaliyani recorded 3,192 pages of evidence after examining 658 witnesses on 271 working days.

Thirty witnesses in the court identified Kasab as the man who had opened fire at them.

The prosecution, led by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, had submitted 1,015 articles seized during investigations.

Nikam had also filed 1,691 documents to support the case.

He had also argued that Pakistan’s security apparatus was used by the LeT in the November 26, 2008 attacks.

For the first time in the Indian history, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials deposed before the Court and gave technical evidence.

The FBI informed the Court about the technical data it gathered - -that how Kasab and others came Pakistan using Global Positioning System (GPS) and that they made calls from their mobile phones through Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) to stay in touch with their handlers across the border.

Prosecution also tabled CCTV footage of the terrorists moving about with guns and firing at people.

The images were captured on CCTV cameras fitted at CST railway station, Times of India building, and Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels.

Photographs of Kasab shot by photojournalists Sebastian D’souza and Sriram Vernekar were also placed before the court.

Kasab is a native of Faridkot, in Pakistan’s Punjab Province.

He along with nine other terrorists, who were killed during gun battle with security forces in Mumbai has been charged with killing 166 people including 25 foreigners.

Over 300 people were also injured in the incident.

Kasab was captured alive on the first day of the attacks.

All ten terrorists were trained by the LeT in Pakistan, had descended in Mumbai on a ‘Fidayeen’ mission.

They wreaked havoc during the 60-hour siege, killing and wounding people at will in various places.

Ansari and Ahmed are accused of conspiracy in the worst ever Pakistan sponsored attack on Indian civilians.

The prosecution alleged that the duo have prepared maps of terror targets and passed them on to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for execution.

Kasab is being held at a specially made bullet and bomb-proof cell in the high-security Arthur Road central prison.

He was brought every day to the court in the jail premises escorted by 10 to 12 guards.

Since the trial began, over 200 personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are guarding Kasab round-the-clock.

Kasab was represented by three lawyers. The first, Anjali Waghmare was removed on technical grounds even before the trial began as the court learnt that she had also appeared for a witness in the same case. Abbas Kazmi, who replaced her, was removed mid-way for not cooperating with the court.

K P Pawar, who then defended Kasab, continued till the end and pleaded that his client was innocent and was picked up by the police from Chowpatty a few days before the strikes. (ANI)