Witness identifies ‘terror’ map

The witness,Shivaji Shivekar,also identified Ajmal Kasab in court and stated that the police had recovered a forged identity card from Kasab,showing him to be a student of a college in Hyderabad. The card had Kasab’s photograph and carried the name of Sameer Chowdhry. 

As per the prosecution,Ansari had handed over the map to co-accused Sabahuddin Ahmed in Nepal,which was passed on to LeT man Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi,who gave a copy each to the terrorists who attacked Mumbai last year.

Shivekar said he had gone to B Y L Nair Hospital on November 27,at about 12.30 am,to visit a friend who had met with an accident. Shivekar said that on reaching the hospital,he found that his friend had not been admitted there. At the hospital,some policemen,(who had taken the Kasab and Khan there) asked him if he was willing to be present for a panchnama. He agreed.

Shivekar told the court that a doctor and a ward boy had removed the blood-stained clothes of Ismail Khan and that the clothes were shown to him. From one of the pockets,the police found the map showing various places in Mumbai written in English,said Shivekar.

He identified the clothes and the map in court. The map was not blood-stained.

Shivekar said he was present when Kasab’s clothes were being sealed. The police recovered Rs 5,400 in cash from his pockets.

During cross-examination,Kasab’s lawyer Abbas Kazmi pointed out that the witness had not said in his earlier statement that he had seen the clothes being removed from the dead terrorist’s body.

Ansari’s lawyer,Shahid Azmi during cross-examination of the witness,suggested that Shivekar was not present in Nair Hospital on night intervening November 26 and November 27 and that he was making the false deposition to fabricate evidence against Ansari.

The prosecution examined another witness,Rajan Vasekar,who was present when the police sealed slain cop Tukaram Omble’s uniform.

Notes from The courtroom
No money for kasab
The court on Monday refused to give back the Rs 5,400 recovered from Kasab at the time of his arrest. Judge M L Tahilyani said,”This is now the property of the court and will be disposed of only after the case is over.” Kasab has been asking for the money to use it for purchasing newspapers.

‘Parrot’ witness
The court on Monday reprimanded panch witness Shivaji Shivekar for being over enthusiastic during cross-examination. Don’t speak like a ‘parrot’ by answering to the defense lawyers’ question before they complete them,the court told him. But the witness continued to do so,to which the court said,”We all know you spent your Sunday with special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and taught you well what to depose. But don’t answer out of turn.”