Click to play videoMumbai: The lone terrorist captured alive after the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, on Monday confessed to having been involved in the attacks on India's financial capital. Kasab made the confession before the trial court in Mumbai.
He asked the court to end the trial and punish him.
He named his Pakistani handlers - including Abu Hamza, Abu Kafa and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi - saying they instructed him to carry out the fidayeen attack and saw him and the other terrorists off when they boarded a ship at Karachi. He also named an Indian man called Abu Jindal who helped teach the terrorists Hindi.
He told the court how Hamza advised the terrorists how to go about the terror attacks, how he himself placed a bomb in a taxi (which later exploded at Mazagaon, south Mumbai) and how the 10-member team - of which he was sole survivor - went about their mission.
Naming Lakhvi as "the mastermind" behind the Mumbai terror mayhem, Kasab described in detail how he and his associate Abu Ismail (who was shot by the police) went to a CST public toilet and assembled one of the bombs by installing a timer in it for use later.
He said that the entire journey from Karachi to Mumbai was completed in four different boats at various locations in the Arabian Sea.
Finally, they landed in Mumbai on the evening of November 26 last year and carried out one of the biggest and boldest terror attacks in the country.
He has also talked about the Cama hospital operation where top police officers Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salasakar and Ashok Kamte were killed while fighting off the terrorists.
The prosecution is claiming victory and Special Public Prosecutor for the 26/11 case, Ujjwal Nikam told CNN-IBN that the court will now examine Kasab's confession, to see whether it was made under some kind of pressure or whether it was voluntary.
"We were about to put the 135th witness in the case on the witness stand when Kasab stood up and said that he wanted to make a confession," Nikam stated.
Nikam also said that no one had ever thought that Kasab, "a dreaded terrorist" would confess.
"He (Kasab) had been trying different tactics for some time now to try and wriggle out of punishments, for example he had said that he was a Pakistani national and when that didn't work he said he was underage. I had always maintained before court that Kasab is a great actor," he added.
Nikam said that Kasab understands English, Hindi and Urdu and was now making an attempt to learn Marathi, so that he could understand some of the things that were being said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan told CNN-IBN, "The trial should be completed as soon as possible and the toughest punishment should be given to him. Kasab is just the tip of the iceberg. Pakistan needs to work towards curbing terrorism which is now a global issue."
26/11 eyewitness Sanjay Govilkar told CNN-IBN, "I was on the spot on the fateful night and after Inspector Tukaram Ombale died we caught Kasab. Kasab's confession on Monday comes as a moment of joy. Kasab had been hearing statements of eyewitnesses day in and day out and a CD of the event was also showed in the court. Kasab must have realised that the whole world knew about his crime and so he confessed to his crime. This is no brave act of confession, it was inevitable."
The trial in the case began on April 17 in a makeshift court room in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail.
Kasab and other terrorists have been also charged with killing five crew members of the boat Kuber with which they reached the shores of Mumbai from Pakistan.
They also face charges of planting a bomb in a taxi that exploded in Vile Parle besides firing at CST and Cama hospital, killing three policemen near Rang Bhavan. They have been accused of stealing a Skoda car and killing a policeman at Chowpatty.
Kasab and other accused also face conspiracy charges for the firing at hotels Taj and Oberoi, Nariman House, Leopold Cafe restaurant and planting a bomb that exploded at Mazgaon.
Prosecution has said Kasab and other suspected members of Pakisan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba were able to succeed in their designs to strike terror in Mumbai on November 26 because of maps allegedly provided by co-accused Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin.
The trial in the terror attacks case is likely to be completed before Diwali in October, Special Judge M L Tahilyani had indicated on July 16.
Until now, over 134 of the total 150 witnesses have been examined in the different cases of the 26/11 attacks filed against Kasab.
India says the assault on Mumbai, in which more than 180 people were killed, was carried out by Pakistan-based militants who must have had backing from some official Pakistani agencies.
DOSSIER DETAILS
Paksitan's dossier to India has named the same people responsible for 26/11 as named by Kasab in court on Monday.
- Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi
Mastermind and Commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba
Arrested on 18-02-09
- Abdul Wajid (Zarrar Shah)
Facilitator and Expert in Computer Networks
Arrested on 18-02-09
- Mazhar Iqbal (Abu al Qama)
Handler of 26/11 terrorists
Arrested on 18-02-09
- Hammad Amin Sadiq
Facilitated funds and hideouts for Mumbai Terror Attacks
Arrested on 15-02-09
- Shahid Jamil Riaz
Financer for 26/11 terrorists
Arrested on 19-03-09
Meanwhile, senior lawyer Satish Manshinde said that the case against Kasab is very strong.
"The confession is belated. We need to find out if the confession is voluntary or forced or if he was instructed to confess. He is trying to bring matters to an end. The judge should record the evidence and then the conclusion. If he had remorse he should have done it earlier. The evidence was so clinching that no court would be in a position to come to any other finding," Manshinde stated.
(With inputs from agencies)
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