1st witness deposes: Kasab killed Omble

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said: Earlier we were likely to examine only 100 witnesses to prove the case against the three accused,expecting that the formal documents would not have to be proved. But since the defence is not accepting them,we will have to examine over 400 witnesses and thus it will take a long time for the trial to be completed.

Kazmi said,These documents can be used against us as evidence,and it is a general practice of defence in many cases that they dont accept these documents.

During the deposition,Kadam identified Kasab as the terrorist whom he and other policemen of the DB Marg station had detained and sent to the BYL Nair Hospital for treatment on the night of November 27,2008,from Girgaum Chowpatty. Throughout the recording of evidence,Kasab sat in the dock with a smile.

Kadam told the court that on November 26,2008,he was on duty from 8 pm. Around 10 pm,senior police inspector Nagappa Mali had informed him that terrorists had attacked south Mumbai and were indiscriminately firing and causing explosions. Mali had directed him to go to Chowpatty with other officers from the detection branch and arrange for a nakabandi.

We saw a white Skoda car approaching us. The policemen raised their hands and started shouting nakabandi hai,gaadi roko. The car then halted around 50 metres away,opposite Café Ideal. We also told the occupants of the car to switch off the headlights and switch on the lights inside the car. However,the occupants did not do it. They then tried to take a U turn,but rammed the car into a divider, said Kadam.

Kadam and another policeman,Hemant Bavdhankar,rushed towards the drivers door. Khan opened fire on Kadam. In return,Kadam fired with his service pistol. Meanwhile,Kasab rolled out of the car. Seeing that Kasab would have opened fire,Omble jumped on him and suffered bullet injuries along with Govilkar. Other policemen then rushed with lathis and nabbed Kasabs weapon. Both the terrorists were then sent in a police van to the Nair Hospital while Omble and Govilkar were moved to Harkishandas Hospital.

The prosecution is likely to examine Kadam on Monday while the defence lawyer will cross-examine him later.