State home minister says ITBP personnel, who guarded 26/11 terrorist, will be sent back to Delhi
Story: A day after 26/11 convict Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab was hanged in Pune’s Yerawada Central Prison, the state government is trying to figure out what to do with the special security arrangements made for him.
While the bulletproof anda cell in Arthur Road Jail, which was specially built to lodge Kasab at a cost of Rs5.2 crore, might be used to accommodate other high profile inmates, such as 26/11 handler Abu Jundal, the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel, specially assigned for his security, will be sent back home.
On Thursday, state home minister RR Patil said that the ITBP personnel will be sent back to the Centre. Appreciated the role of the ITBP personnel in guarding Kasab, Patil said that he would meet them on Monday.
Referring to the Centre’s demand to the state government to pay for the ITBP security cover, Patil said "We have asked the Centre to waive off the cost of Rs21 crore incurred on the ITBP personnel as it was an attack on the country."
When Kasab was brought to Arthur Road Jail in 2008, the public works department (PWD) built the egg-shaped solitary confinement cell with a reinforced steel wall and a 20-ft-long bomb-and-bullet-proof tunnel on the jail premises to connect the cell to the special court where the 26/11 trial was held.
The PWD also installed closed-circuit television cameras to monitor the place 24x7.
The jail authorities suggested that if the special 26/11 court is converted into the MCOCA court, they would save a lot of time on escorting prisoners to the court during the trial and it would also reduce incidents of the prisoners escaping from police custody.
The state government has spent Rs1.47 crore on Kasab when he was lodged at the Arthur Road jail for four years.
Out of the total amount, Rs1.46 crore was spent on security, Rs39,000 on his medical expenses, Rs42,000 on food and Rs1,878 on clothes.
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