The unclaimed corpses had been lying in the morgue of the Sir JJ Group of Hospitals since the attack in 2008 which claimed 166 lives.
The bodies of nine Pakistani perpetrators of the brazen 26/11 attack on Mumbai were secretly buried in January, the Maharashtra government revealed today.
"Bodies of nine terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008, have been disposed of in January this year," state home minister RR Patil informed the legislative council.
The unclaimed bodies had been lying in the morgue of the Sir JJ Group of Hospitals since the attack that claimed 166 lives.
Pakistan has been denying that the terrorists were its nationals.
Patil, however, did not mention the place where the corpses were buried, apparently for security reasons.
The Maharashtra government had sought mandatory permission from the Centre to dispose of the bodies as several international agencies were involved in the investigation.
Muslim organisations in Mumbai had announced that cemeteries where unclaimed bodies were usually buried will not open their doors for the terrorists, whom they described as not true followers of Islam.
"The matter [of disposal of bodies] was deliberately kept a secret from the media and other people," Patil said. "Now the only question that remains is of the lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Kasab."
Patil's disclosure came during his reply to a discussion on the law-and-order situation in the state.
The bodies of Nazir, Babar Imran alias Abu Aksa, Abu Ali, Abu Soheb, Bada Abdul Rehman, Abu Umar, Fahadullah, Abdul Rehman Chhota, and Abu Ismail were embalmed and kept at the JJ Hospital morgue under round-the-clock vigil.
The room was sealed and the temperature was set at 4ºC to prevent decomposition.
Several organisations had advocated throwing the bodies into the Arabian Sea.
Patil also attacked Pakistan's prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for his statement that Islamabad cannot guarantee that another 26/11-type attack will not take place in India.
"If terrorists come here from Pakistan with money and weapons, we will not allow them to go back and [we will] bury them in the state," Patil said.
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