Ajmal is reading Gandhi in jail

For the past one week, an unlikely reader has been sifting through the pages of Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography My Experiments with Truth.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir aka Kasab, the lone terrorist to be captured alive during the Mumbai terror strikes last November, has been reading the Urdu translation of the autobiography, a source at the Arthur Road jail said.

When the jail staff first gave him the book, Ajmal refused to look at it. The authorities slowly coaxed him to give it a try. A reluctant Ajmal finally succumbed and has been reading the book for a week now, the source said.

The 500-page book is often given to inmates as part of jail reforms and recreational programmes. The book is available in the jail library in several languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, English, Kannada, and Urdu.

The source said Ajmal was also treated for hernia for three days at the JJ Group of Hospitals in December.

Ajmal can’t shave: Ajmal is not allowed to shave or cut hair in the jail. “He may hurt himself with the razor,” a senior officer said.