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Journalism of Courage
WITH the Mumbai Police Crime Branch having set a 60-day deadline for filing the chargesheet in the 26/11 terror probe, the lone terrorist caught alive, Ajmal Ameer Kasab, was surrendered to judicial custody on Saturday in order to conduct his test identification parade (TIP) before witnesses.
Kasab was shifted from the lock-up at the Mumbai Police headquarters in Crawford Market to the high security Arthur Road Jail early Saturday morning. According to sources, the identification parade would be conducted before batches of witnesses and would be carried out over the next few days.
Kasab arrived in a police jeep around 4 a.m. and was taken through the jail’s rear entrance near the TADA court where the trial for the 1993 serial blasts was held. He was lodged in the ‘anda cell’ No. 2 till around 11 a.m. According to sources, gangsters like D K Rao and henchmen of Chhota Rajan lodged in this cell were shifted to another ‘anda barrack’ for security reasons.
The number of people who identified Kasab inside the ‘pinjara’ cell, a hall inside the jail where identification parades are conducted, was not disclosed but the process was reportedly completed in the presence of a magistrate by 4.30 p.m. After the identification parade, Kasab was moved to ‘anda cell’ No. 1, where he is being monitored by a CCTV camera.
Last Wednesday, Kasab was remanded to police custody till January 6. However, a high-level decision was taken to surrender his custody before the period expired. “His identification parade is being conducted at the Arthur Road Jail. This might be done for two or three days, following which police custody will be sought again,” said a police source. Police officials said officers who had intercepted Kasab and his partner Ismail Khan at Girgaum Chowpatty, railway cops who witnessed the firing at CST, as well as a few officials from Cama Hospital that was attacked by the duo, visited the jail on Saturday. The Crime Branch has already recorded statements of at least 35 witnesses in the cases registered against Kasab.
Police constable Arun Jadhav, who was the only one to survive when Kasab and Ismael Khan hijacked their police vehicle, will be one of the prime witnesses. Jadhav witnessed the killings of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar. Another witness in the case is Maruti Madhavrao Phad, a government driver who witnessed the terrorists firing at the three police officers. S R Arasa, the owner of the hijacked Skoda car, will also be asked to identify Kasab.
