Confirmed: Death for Kasab
Mumbai: Bombay High Court on Monday confirmed the death sentence of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only survivor among the 10 terrorists who carried out the bloody 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.
The high court also upheld trial court's order acquitting Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed in the Mumbai attacks case.
The high court delivered its verdict on the fate of Kasab, nine months after he was awarded death penalty by the trial court for the death of 166 persons in the terror attacks.
The 24-year-old convict, hailing from Faridkot in Punjab province of Pakistan, would appear on screen before the court through the medium of video conference.
Ahead of the verdict, Kasab got up early in the morning, offered prayers and recited verses of the Holy Quran in his cell at Arthur Road Jail.
Kasab told his lawyer Farhana Shah on Saturday last that he would hear the verdict through video conference. He also appeared to be nervous and did not talk much, Shah said.
Kasab, an LeT operative, has been confined to jail since his arrest on November 26, 2008, when he was caught alive at Girgaum Chowpatty in South Mumbai.
Confirmed: Death for Kasab
Nine others, who had come with Kasab, from Karachi in Pakistan by sea route, were gunned down by security forces at terror sites -- Hotels Taj Mahal and Oberoi-Trident and Jewish guest house Nariman House in South Mumbai.
No one from Kasab's family has come to meet him in India and neither he has expressed his desire to meet any one, his lawyer Farhana Shah said.
However, Kasab had told the High Court that he wished to be tried in a US court but did not elaborate. The court did not consider his plea.
During arguments in the High Court, Kasab pleaded that this trial was "unfair" and demanded a fresh trial. He argued that material evidence was suppressed and norms were not followed to defend him. However, the judges rejected his plea.
Kasab took a stand of total denial and disputed prosecution's story that he had landed with nine others in a dingy at Badhwar Park on the day of terror attack. His lawyers Amin Solkar and Farhana Shah argued the evidence was concocted to frame Kasab in the case, saying the dingy was small and could not accommodate ten persons.
Kasab submitted that he come from Pakistan much before the terror attacks and was arrested at Juhu beach. He said he was in custody when the terror attacks took place.
Government Counsel Ujjwal Nikam placed photographs and CCTV footages showing Kasab in terror acts. However, Kasab argued that they had been morphed and his face was not clear.
The prosecution also relied on Kasab's confession before a Magistrate accepting his role in 26/11 attack and his guilt plea before trial court admitting the crime.
Source: PTI