Evidence of ‘waging war’ not appreciated by courts, claims lawyer.
The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday the taped recording of the intercepted conversation between the Mumbai terror attack accused Mohammad Ajmal Kasab and his Pakistani handlers during the bloody firing indiscriminately opened by him at innocent people on November 26, 2008.
In order to appreciate the evidence produced by the prosecutor that Kasab executed the mayhem at the call given by his mentors in Pakistan, a bench of justices Aftab Alam and CK Prasad will hear for themselves the tape recordings of death convict Kasab and the terror group leaders in Pakistan.
Seeking dismissal of Kasab’s plea for quashing the Bombay High Court judgment, which sentenced him to death for offences like waging war against the state, Gopal Subramanium argued on Wednesday that the Mumbai attack was pre-planned and the intercepts are a crucial piece of evidence to substantiate the charge. All arrangements would be made for the judges to hear the sensational recording, he added.
Further, Kasab’s lawyer Raju Ramachandran has said neither the trial court nor HC properly appreciated the evidence regarding the allegation of waging war against the state. Appointed by the apex court to defend Kasab, the senior lawyer said attacking people at a railway station or other private places did not constitute the grave offence of “waging war”.
The recorded intercepts are of Kasab and his nine terrorist aides on one hand and their handlers in Pakistan established. “From the diary and intercepts of telephonic conversation between the terrorists and their handlers, three things are clear that the attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 was pre-meditated involving ten terrorists who were from Pakistan,” Subramaniam and special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said while seeking the apex court’s endorsement of the death sentence awarded to 24-year-old Kasab.
According to the prosecution, the attack was launched at the Taj at the Gateway by terrorists, who were interacting with their Pakistani handlers, and the intercepted conversation clearly showed that they (handlers) asked them (terrorists) as to “why they did not sink the Kuber boat”. The Pakistani handlers also sought confirmation about the killing of the navigator of Kuber, Amar Singh Solanki, who was beheaded by Kasab, Subramanium added.
The diary also disclosed that Kasab was known by the name Mujaheed to other terrorists. It said that on reaching Budhawar Park, Kasab and other Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Abu Ismail took a taxi and proceeded towards CST, and went on a shooting spree killing at least 166 people.
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