Kasab denies taking part in terror attacks at CST
Ajmal Kasab went back on the confession he made before the magistrate,saying that he had not participated in the terror attacks at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
Ajmal Kasab made a complete retraction of the confession of his participation in the last year’s Mumbai terror attacks and added a touch of drama claiming terror suspect David Headley had met him in the company of FBI officials.
Described by the prosecution lawyer Ujwal Nikham as a “dramatic actor”,Kasab,the lone gunman captured alive on November 26 last year who had created terror and mayhem along with nine other LeT-trained Pakistani terrorists,told the trial court that he had confessed under duress.
“I totally deny the confession made before the Magistrate. I was beaten up by the police and was interrogated by foreigners and one of them was Headley,” he told Special Judge M L Tahiliyani.
The judge cut him short saying he should first answer the questions put to him by the court and then say whatever he wanted to.
Lawyer Ejaz Naqvi,defending another accused Sabhaudin Ahmed,said Kasab had named Headley and that it should be recorded.
David Coleman Headley,a US national of Pakistani origin,was arrested by FBI in October on terror charges and is believed to have played a role in aiding the Mumbai terror attacks.
The judge,however,told the lawyer that he would first finish with Kasab’s statement and that Kasab was free to say whatever he wanted after that.
In the wake of Kasab’s statement,Naqvi filed an application before the Court urging that Headley may be summoned and interrogated for his role in the case. Nikam,however,asserted that Kasab’s retraction does not affect the prosecution case which rests on the evidence of 110 witnesses.
“I knew he is a dramatic actor….but it is difficult for him to escape the clutches of law,” he said.
Kasab,who was caught on camera wearing cargo pants with automatic rifle slung across his shoulders and killing commuters in the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus station,claimed he was arrested on the night of November 25 and was “falsely implicated” in the 26/11 case.
“On the night of November 25,I was roaming in Juhu. I had gone to see a movie when the local police arrested me,” Kasab told the court.
He said he was arranging for a house in Mumbai. “I had a passport and I’m not the first one to come from Pakistan to Juhu area. I was arranging for a house here. The local police first arrested me and then handed me over to the Crime Branch,” he said.
Kasab said that on Nov 27 he was produced before a magistrate who then took him into custody. “I have not given any confession before the magistrate and my statement has been falsely implicated,” he said.
Kasab,who claimed that he was 20 years old,also denied that he was with Abu Ismail during the attack at CST (VT Station).
He rejected the evidence of a witness,Bharat Tamore,that he was seen with 10 terrorists at Badhwar Park when they got down from a dinghy there.
Kasab said that “do baatein bolkar katham karna chaahtha hoon,aaj bhi mujhe bolne ka mauka nahin mila tho…” (I want to finish by saying two lines,if I don’t get a chance to speak then…)
The judge cut him short and told him that he had to answer questions the court put to him.
Kasab disagreed with Tamore’s version that he had seen the 10 terrorists at Badhwar Park wearing saffron jackets and carrying bags on their back and also a handbag.
Tamore had told the Judge in his evidence that he saw two of the 10 terrorists closely and that Kasab was one of them.
Several questions were put to Kasab based on the evidences given by witnesses.
Asked about the dinghy,Kasab said that he did not know anything about the dingy. “I saw the dingy for the first time in the Court,” he said.
The case of the prosecution is that the terrorists had reached Mumbai via the dingy. Asked whether he confessed before the Magistrate,Kasab said that he had confessed but it had been not recorded properly.
Kasab denied that he had told the Magistrate that he and Abu Ismail had hired a taxi to CST. He also said that he had not told the Magistrate that Ismail was in the driver’s seat and he himself was sitting behind and that he planted a bomb underneath the driver’s seat while Ismail was talking to the driver.
“I did not tell the Magistrate that on reaching CST that they saw a lesser crowd than what was shown to them in a training camp in Pakistan,” Kasab said.
“I did not contact Abu Hamza (absconding accused). My mobile Sony Ericsson was lost and I was not in a position to talk to anybody,” he said.
To a question that witness Natwarlal,father of a 11-year-old girl,who was injured in the attack,had seen him and another terrorist at CST,Kasab replied that he was not present there.
“Maybe Natwarlal had said that there was firing on people but I was not there — I don’t know,” Kasab said.
To another question that Natwarlal had recognised him in the Court,he said that anybody could recognise him “by having seen my photograph in newspapers.”
About Abu Ismail,Kasab said that “I don’t know who he is. Ismail may have been involved in the attack but I don’t know him.”
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