26/11 trial: Kasab's latest, wildest flip-flop

Source - http://www.ndtv.com




On Friday, Ajmal Kasab took his own flip-flops and his testimonies to a whole new level, claiming not just that he was never involved in the 26/11 attacks, but that he was arrested 20 days before 26/11 - while visiting Mumbai with his friends to watch a movie.

Two days after the prosecution closed its case, the attention shifted once again to Mumbai carnage's lone gunman Ajmal Kasab. As the special court in Mumbai started recording his statement under section 313 of the CrPC, Kasab said things that ranged from the seemingly improbable to the thoroughly laughable.

Kasab told special judge M L Tahaliyani: "I came to Mumbai to watch movies. I came 20 days before the attack. I was arrested from Juhu Chowpatty, released on the evening of 26/11, and then implicated in the case."

Clad in a white kurta-pyjama, Kasab, in his three-hour-long statement, appeared confident and cocky, as he had a packed courtroom latching on to his every word. His statement not only disowned all his previous statements, but added more than a pinch of bizaare.

Kasab told the judge that he came to Delhi from Pakistan by the Samjhauta Express, and came to Mumbai from Delhi. He said he was not the terrorist seen in the CCTV footage from CST station - something that he had proudly accepted earlier before the same court a few months ago. He also claimed never to have seen, much less use, an AK-47.

But the Pakistani gunman was cut-off mid-way when he said, "Four white men from America had come and Headley..." - leaving the Headley connection open to interpretation.

What makes the Headley reference startling is that Kasab has no access to newspapers or the outside world. So the question is: Does he really know who Headley is or is he simply parroting allegations made by his co-accused's lawyers?

Though his claims may sound outlandish, the prosecution says they were not completely unexpected.

"He has retracted his confession, but it won't have any impact on the case because we have enough evidence to prove it was given voluntarily. Kasab is well trained and a good actor," Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told NDTV.

For a man who only claimed to know Urdu and Punjabi, Kasab's statement peppered with English and Marathi words comes as a shot in the arm for the prosecution's claim that he is a shrewd and intelligent Lashkar operative.

26/11 trial: Prosecution rests case, Kasab statement on Dec 18

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Seven months into the trial of the 26/11 terror attacks, the prosecution on Wednesday wound up its case before a special court which fixed December 18 to record the statement of lone surviving Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab. The prosecution wrapped up examination of evidences and a total of 610 witnesses against Kasab and two Indian accused-- Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed.

The court will record the statement of Kasab under Section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on the evidences and witnesses produced by the prosecution on December 18.

Kasab's lawyer K P Pawar, however, argued that the trial should proceed only after Kasab is medically fit.Special Judge M L Tahilyani then asked Kasab if he was ill, to which the Pakistani national replied in the negative and said he was fit to give his statement. "The trial began on May 8 and in about seven months the prosecution today closed the case," Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said.

The prosecution's aim was not only to prove the case against Kasab, but also expose the prime conspirators from Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), he said. "Kasab is one of the instruments of the terror outfit. He and the nine other slain terrorists were a small part of LeT which wanted to inflict serious damage to India by attacking its commercial capital," Nikam told PTI.

In all 30 witnesses identified Kasab in the identification parade and in the court. Forensic experts have also given their opinion that the DNA samples collected from the boat - Kuber (in which terrorists landed in Mumbai), matched with the DNA of Kasab and other slain terrorists.

The prosecution has screened in the court CCTV footages of terrorists from cameras installed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Times of India Building (opposite CST), Hotel Taj and Hotel Oberoi-Trident. Besides CCTV footages, weapons and RDX seized from Kasab and the slain terrorists have been placed as evidence. The prosecution is banking on a plea made by Kasab in the court mid-way the trial partly accepting his guilt in the crime.

Kasab had admitted in the court to have taken part in the conspiracy, but said he played a secondary role in the terror attacks as Abu Ismael was his leader. The gunman has denied he had fatally shot police officers Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamate and Constable Tukaram Omble.

The prosecution is relying upon evidence tendered by foreign experts, who said the mobile phones, used by nine terrorists while talking to their Pakistani handlers during the assault, were imported by a Pakistan firm from China to back its case that the plot was hatched in the neighbouring country.

FBI sleuths have also deposed and told the court that GPS recovered from the accused indicated that the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan.

In its evidence against the arrested Indian accused, the prosecution is relying on a witness who identified Ansari and Ahmed, saying he had seen maps of target locations in their hands before the attacks during his tour to Nepal.

The prosecution has adduced evidence to show that Ansari had procured a Pakistani passport on strength of bogus documents. The handwriting in the maps seized from slain terrorist Abu Ismael had matched with maps recovered from Ansari after his arrest in Lucknow.

The accused are facing charges under IPC, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Foreigners Act, Passport (Entry into India) Act, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, Damage to Public Properties Act, Indian Railway Act and Customs Act.

A total of 166 persons, including nationals from UK, USA and Israel, were killed and 304 others injured when terrorists struck at Hotel Taj, Hotel Oberoi-Trident, Nariman House, CST, Cama Hospital and Cafe Leopold. The terrorists also planted bombs in two taxis which exploded.

Kasab's statement not confession but admission of guilt: Judge

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The special court trying the lone surviving terrorist in 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, on Tuesday said the Pakistani gunman's statement pleading guilty before it was not a confession but an admission of guilt. Judge M L Tahaliyani said Kasab's statement before the court was "broadly speaking not a confession but an admission of guilt." Tahaliyani's observation came after Kasab concluded his version of events related to November 26 terror strikes.

In a dramatic turn of events, Kasab on Monday confessed to his involvement in the terror strikes at CST and other locations, apart from giving a detailed description of his training by Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan. Kasab was free to plead guilty at any point of time during the course of the trial, the court observed. The court would need to verify whether Kasab was genuinely pleading his guilt as there were many charges against him, Judge Tahaliyani said.

The court could then accept or reject Kasab's statement or accept his plea and continue with the trial, the judge said. Kasab, who was caught alive during the Mumbai attacks, had already recorded a confession before a magistrate but later withdrew it alleging it was obtained through coercion by police.

The gunman had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges framed against him.

Terror suspect Rana was 'aware' of 26/11 plans

Source - http://www.ndtv.com

Canadian citizen Tahawwur Rana knew of plans for the November 2008 assaults in Mumbai before they occurred, US prosecutors said ahead of his bail hearing in a Chicago court on Tuesday.

The US government lawyers also say that Rana even asked Headley to pass on his compliments to the LeT member they both knew for the excellent planning and preparation behind 26/11.

Opposing Tawwahar Rana's release on bail, the US attorney filed a memo of a recorded conversation intercepted between 48-year-old Rana and co-accused David Headley.

According to the Government filing: "It is clear from the conversation and extrinsic corroboration that Rana was told just days before the Mumbai attacks that the attacks were about to happen." Prosecutors say a retired Pakistani military major Abdur Rehman -- referred to as "Pasha" in the recording -- told the duo of the planned assaults.

The filing adds that on September 7, 2009, Headley and Rana took a long car ride and discussed several topics. This is the conversation that was recorded and proves Headley and Rana discussed 26/11. Later in that conversation, Rana and Headley both discussed targeting the National Defence College in Delhi for a future attack.

Simply put, Rana's statements in this conversation, among others, completely belie his argument to this court that he is either a dupe or pacifist. Prosecutors say he is a flight risk and submitted these latest filings to show that he should continue to be kept behind bars.

In their filing, prosecutors question the defence attorneys portrayal of Rana as a man of non-violence saying "It is quite clear Rana is no Gandhi."