Five years after his arrest during the 26/11 strike on Mumbai and over a year after he was hanged to death after a much-publicised trial, Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Ajmal Kasab continues to inspire myriad conspiracy theories.
Family members of the slain cops who fell prey to the bullets of Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Kasab and his cohorts feel the court should expedite the trial and punish Kasab.
"I am happy with the verdict of death being given to Kasab," said Eknath Omble, brother of assistant police sub-inspector Tukaram Omble, who died while trying to capture Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab, on the dreaded night of November 26, 2008.
India has in all 309 death row convicts while Maharashtra, where Kasab is lodged, has 39 of them. The state that tops this list is Bhar with 80 death row convicts while Uttar Pradesh comes next with 72
If Kasab's death sentence is carried out, he will become the 56th prisoner since independence to face the gallows. But India has as many as 309 prisoners on death row already, including six women.
The division bench of Justices Ranjana Desai and R V More, apart from pronouncing the judgement on confirmation of death sentence to Kasab, will also deliver its verdict on Maharashtra government's plea against the acquittal of two Indians accused of aiding in commission of the crime.
A top Madhya Pradesh policeman on Tuesday shocked his audience when he hailed Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the Mumbai terror attack, as a good role model during his speech. Addressing a training camp in Indore, Inspector General of Police (Special Forces) Rajendra Kumar cited the example of Kasab, 21, to buttress his point about the importance of undergoing a good training. "If you are trained well, you can do anything," he said.
Kasab, whose statement is being recorded by the court on evidences adduced by the prosecution, told Special Judge M L Tahaliyani that while one of the terrorists of the Taj hotel siege was a Kashmiri, another was from Gujarat.
Justices Ranjana Desai and R V More, while dismissing the plea, said they had viewed a CD of CCTV footage submitted by Government Counsel Ujjwal Nikam which showed Kasab attacking prison personnel on September 1 and also considered the past experiences of Kasab on his aggressive posture in jail.
The Union government seems to have chosen its timing with care. Parliament begins its winter session on Thursday and the BJP would have used the issue during the Gujarat elections. Hanging Kasab was politically expeditious for the shaky ruling coalition, says Neerja Chowdhury.
"I was forced to give my confessional statement to the metropolitan magistrate," Kasab on Tuesday told judge M L Tahilyani while recording statements under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Muslim clerics and scholars have welcomed the capital punishment awarded to the Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Amir Kasab saying the court verdict has reiterated the faith of all countrymen in Indian judicial system.
At Mumbai's iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station, where Abu Ismail and Ajmal Kasab had gunned down scores of innocent commuters on the night of November 26, 2008, people burst crackers and distributed sweets, after the latter was awarded the death sentence by a special anti-terror court on Thursday. One man in particular, NGO worker Pradeep Bhavnani, initiated the celebration. He had visited the Siddhivinayak temple earlier in the day to pray.
Praising Pakistani gunman Ajmal Amir Kasab proved costly to Special Armed Force Inspector General Rajendra Kumar with the Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday issuing his transfer orders posting him to the police headquarters.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed led a gathering of thousands in offering funeral prayers for Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist involved in the Mumbai attacks who was hanged earlier this week, a media report said on Saturday. Saeed, mastermind of the 2008 assault on Mumbai, offered ghayabana namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayers in absentia) for Kasab.
Ajmal Kasab's mercy petition, addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee, has been rejected by Maharashtra's home ministry, days after the lone surviving perpetrator of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks set in motion the last option available to save his life.
Describing the Mumbai terror attack case and its trial as unique, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Rakesh Maria said the execution of Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab is the best fitting tribute to victims as well as security personnel who laid down their lives fighting terrorists.
The execution of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab in the wee hours on Wednesday has been welcomed by people from all over India. After nearly a four-year-long legal battle, , the Supreme Court had confirmed the death penalty awarded to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative by the trial court and later upheld by the Bombay high court.
Vicky Nanjappa reports on the procedures adopted by the Yerwada jail authorities ahead of the execution of Ajmal Kasab's death sentence
After 'mutton biriyani', 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Ajmal Kasab now wants 'basmati' rice served to him in jail.
Videos this week: Kasab hanging and more
Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist, told the special court that he decided to confess to his crime as he came to know that Pakistan has admitted that he was its national.
The Congress on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict upholding the death sentence of Ajmal Kasab in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case and demanded his "quick" execution.
Reacting to the apex court verdict which upheld the death sentence awarded to Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who defended him in the apex court as amicus curiae, said he "bows down" to the ruling.
The keenly awaited trial of Ajmal Kasab, sole surviving terrorist involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was facing a further delay with the judge of the special court, M L Tahiliani, finding a conflict of interest in Anjali Waghmare defending Kasab.
The special court appointed Anjali Waghmare (40), a lawyer with the Maharashtra Service Legal Authority, to defend Kasab in the November 26 terror strike, which is likely to begin on April 6 in the high security Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.
Abu Jundal is the latest hot property in terror-related news in India. Newspaper reports are replete with stories of how intelligence agencies are gleaning more information from him.
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the execution of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab.
While the Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed the death sentence awarded to 26/11 gunman Ajmal Kasab, the fact is that the legal process has not come to an end just as yet.
When the weapons were being identified in the special court, Kasab kept laughing at the witness and shook his head indicating that the weapons did not belong to him. This invited the wrath of Judge M L Tahaliyani, who warned Kasab to behave properly in the court. The judge told him that all the time he was seen laughing.
Rubbishing reports in a section of Pakistani media that Ajmal Kasab is dead, Maharashtra government on Friday said the lone terrorist arrested in 26/11 Mumbai attacks is very much alive. "Kasab is in Mumbai police custody and very much alive," state Home Minister Jayant Patil said referring to the reports on condition of Kasab.
Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab has moved the Supreme Court challenging his conviction and death sentence in the 28/11 Mumbai attacks.
The trial in the Mumbai terror attack case opened on Friday with the sole surviving terrorist Mohammed Amir Ajmal Kasab seeking retraction of his confession and the prosecution hinting at Pakistan army's involvement in training him and the other terrorists, who were killed.
Pakistan on Tuesday said the statement made to a magistrate by Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured for the Mumbai terror attacks, is crucial for the successful prosecution of suspects detained by it in connection with the incident.
Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks on November 26 last year, is a Pakistani national, a Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman said on Wednesday. However, Pakistan Information Minister Sherry Rehman stated that Kasab was not linked to any official agency.
Identifying Ajmal Amir Kasab as the 'prime suspect' in the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan has formally requested India to hand over the lone terrorist captured alive during the terror strikes, to facilitate successful prosecution of other arrested accused. "The government of Pakistan has formally requested the Indian government to hand over the custody of Ajmal Kasab because he is the prime suspect," Deputy Attorney General Sardar Mohammad Ghazi said.
Medical tests have revealed that Ajmal Amir Kasab, prime accused in the Mumbai terror attack case, is above 20 years of age and not a juvenile as claimed by him.
Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone captured terrorist of the audacious Mumbai terror attack, was trained by the Pakistan Marines, an elite unit of the Pakistan Navy, says a report in The Week.
This is how Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam responded to the confirmation of death sentence to Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks by the Bombay high court.
Pakistan on Friday said it has so far not requested consular access to Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai terror attacks, as India has not provided any evidence on his identity and nationality. Consular access is usually sought once the identity and nationality of an accused are established, Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told Pakistan's Dawn News channel.