First 26/11 witness deposes

The first witness in the 26/11 trial, sub-inspector Bhaskar Kadam, on Monday identified the AK-47 rifle and pistols allegedly used by Mohammad Ajmal Amir, alias Kasab, during the terrorist attack on Mumbai last year.

Kadam, who was part of the police team that nabbed Ajmal, examined the two AK-47 rifles that were shown to him by the court staff. One of the rifles belonged to slain additional commissioner of police Ashok Kamte. Ajmal’s accomplice Abu Ismail had allegedly snatched it from Kamte after shooting dead the police officer near Cama Hospital. Ismail was later shot dead by the DB Marg police.

Identifying the other AK-47 as Ajmal’s, Kadam said, “One of the magazines was loaded in the rifle and another was attached with a cello-tape.” Ajmal’s advocate Abbas Kazmi also looked at the rifle closely.

Ajmal looked thrilled when the rifle was being shown in court. The wide grin on his face made additional sessions judge ML Tahiliyani to reprimand him. “Why are you smiling so much?” the judge asked. “Is this a drama? When the court proceedings are going on why are you smiling without reason? Don’t look at media people and smile.”

Ajmal then hung his head and kept quiet for most of the proceedings.

Kadam was also shown two 9mm pistols that bore the marking of Diamond Nedi Frontier Arms Company, Peshawar. “Both the pistols were found on the road,” he said. He also identified the clothes that Kasab and Ismail were wearing at the time of the encounter.

Kadam was cross-examined by Kazmi and Ansari’s lawyer, Shahid Azmi. Azmi examined Ismail’s clothes, especially the cargo pant, whose pockets were stained red, apparently by blood. He then asked Kadam questions about it. “The map which was allegedly recovered from Ismail’s pant pocket does not have any blood stains on it,” Azmi said.