Mumbai: Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only terrorist captured alive for the attack on Mumbai on 26th November 2008, threw tantrums, made bizarre claims, confessed and then denied during his trial. His luck comes to an end on Monday.
Mumbai Special Judge M L Tahilyani will deliver his judgment on Kasab, 22, and two Indians in a case that has seen as many as 653 witnesses being examined, a 675-page written submission being filed and several ups and downs. The court will also give its judgment on the nine terrorists who were killed by security forces.
Kasab, a resident of Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab province, is charged with killing 166 people, including 25 foreigners, and injuring 304 others at the instance of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).
The 86 charges against him range from "waging war against India" to murder and destabilizing the government. Besides, he faces charges under the Explosives Act, the Arms Act, the Passport Act, the Prevention of Damage to Public Properties Act, the Customs Act, the Explosive Substances Act, the Bombay Police Act, the Foreigners Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
His Indian accomplices -- Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed -- are accused of conspiracy in the attacks. They allegedly prepared maps of the targeted locations and handing these to LeT operatives.
If held guilty, they all may get the death penalty.
Kasab and his accomplice, Abu Ismail, are accused of carrying out the deadliest part of the attacks by the terrorists who targeted two luxury hotels, a train station, a popular cafe and a Jewish centre.
Fifty-eight people were killed and over 100 injured as Kasab and Abu Ismail fired indiscriminately and threw hand-grenades at commuters at the Chhattrapati Railway terminus.
The trial
The trial, perhaps the fastest in a terror case in India, started on May 8 in a special court set up at Arthur Road Jail which recorded 3,192 pages of evidence after examining 658 witnesses on 271 working days.
Thirty witnesses in the court identified Kasab as the man who had opened fire at them.
The prosecution, led by Ujjwal Nikam, submitted 1,015 articles seized during investigations and filed 1,691 documents to support its case. The prosecution had also argued that Pakistan's security apparatus was used by LeT in the attacks.
For the first time in India's legal history, officials of America's Federal Bureau of Investigation deposed to give technical evidence that the terrorists came from Pakistan.
Prosecution also tabled CCTV footages of the terrorists moving about with guns and firing at people.
Kasab had come to Mumbai via the Arabian Sea route with nine other associates, all of whom were killed during the 60-hour operation by combined security forces. Their bodies were preserved in the morgue of Sir J.J. Hospital, barely a couple of kilometres away from Arthur Road Central Jail.
The Maharashtra government quietly disposed of the bodies in January this year. So far details of how and where the bodies were disposed of continue to elude the media.
Kasab seemed to enjoy the trial. At various times, he was seen laughing and giggling in court. He also complained of bad food, illness and attempts to poison him.
He made demands for things like perfumes, soaps, newspapers, permission to offer 'namaz' and new clothes - many of them rejected by the Special Court. All this prompted Nikam to call Kasab "an actor par excellence" several times.
The accused showed all his moods - sombre at times, jovial and cheerful often, crying at times, shocked and awed when shown some of the evidence or by the accounts of witnesses.
In July last year, Kasab grabbed headlines by 'confessing' to his crimes in the 26/11 attacks.
"Hang me, please," Kasab pleaded two days after he made a dramatic confession and gave a chilling blow-by-blow account of his part in the attacks.
"I have committed the crimes on this earth and the people of the world should punish me. I don't want god's punishment. But, if somebody feels that I have confessed to escape the death penalty, the court can definitely hang me," Kasab pleaded.
Later, he demanded a trial in an international court of justice, saying he had no faith in the Indian courts, while co-accused Ansari demanded video-recording of the entire trial.
The special judge promptly dismissed the pleas on grounds that they were "mischievous" and intended to "delay the proceedings".
Besides Nikam, the defence lawyers, including Kasab's lawyer K P Pawar, Ansari's lawyer R.B. Mokashi and Ahmed's lawyer Ejaz Naqvi, were involved when the final arguments were completed.
While one lawyer - S G Abbas Kazmi - was removed, another representing Fahim, lawyer Shahid Azmi, died during the trial in early February.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)
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