11/7 accused's confessions fake, claims defence

The defence on Tuesday, during the final arguments in the July 11, 2006, serial train blasts case, informed the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (Mcoca) court that the confessions the police had recorded of the arrested accused were fake.

Defence advocate Abdul Wahab Khan, while speaking to dna, said, "There is a specific pattern in which the DCP records a confession of an accused. However, as per the confessional papers, which the DCP had forwarded before the court, it does not have a certificate which says the confession was not given under duress."

Khan also claimed that according to the prosecution's theory, the police had recorded confessions of the seven accused from October 3, 2006 to October 7, 2006. "If we consider the prosecution's case, confession of the seven accused was recorded over four days. However, we have found that the prime minister visited Mumbai on October 5 and, thus, the police were busy on bandobast rehearsal duty on October 4. So how's it possible for the DCP to record the confessional statement when he was busy with bandobast?" added Khan.

The defence will continue with its final arguments on Thursday.