26/11 was meticulously planned: SC told

Mohd Ajmal Amir Kasab's confession coupled with the intercepted conversation between the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack executors and their Pakistani handlers prove that the assault on the commercial capital was a result of a "meticulous" planning across the border, the Supreme Court was told today.

Mohd Ajmal Amir Kasab's confession coupled with the intercepted conversation between the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack executors and their Pakistani handlers prove that the assault on the commercial capital was a result of a "meticulous" planning across the border, the Supreme Court was told on Wednesday.

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Prosecutors said the terror attack on Mumbai was "skillfully" executed and the recoveries made during the course of investigation showed it was planned by Pakistani handlers in a long meeting.

"The handlers and ten terrorists had a long meeting before the attack as it is evident from the confession of Kasab as well as from the telephonic conversation intercepted by the Mumbai Police," former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam and Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam submitted to a bench of justices Aftab Alam and C K Prasad.

While seeking the apex court's endorsement of the death sentence awarded to 24-year-old Kasab, the advocates, who were appearing for the Maharashtra government, said conversations among the terrorists and their handlers were intercepted by the Mumbai Police when Hotel Taj, Nariman House and Hotel Oberoi Trident were attacked.

Kasab is the sole convict of the carnage in which 166 people were killed.

The counsel said four terrorists from Hotel Taj, two from Nariman House and two from Hotel Oberoi Trident were interacting with their handlers in Pakistan and each of the ten terrorists had the mobile phones of the same company.

In the special leave petition (SLP) challenging the Bombay High Court judgement, which had confirmed his death sentence, Kasab had claimed he was brainwashed like a "robot" into committing the heinous crime in the name of "God" and that he does not deserve capital punishment owing to his young age.

Kasab, who is lodged in Arthur Road Prison in Mumbai, had moved the SLP through the jail authorities.

Kasab, along with nine other Pakistani terrorists, had landed in south Mumbai on November 26, 2008 night after travelling from Karachi by sea and had gone on a shooting spree at various city landmarks.

While Kasab was captured alive, the other terrorists in his group had been killed by security forces during the counter-terror operations. He was sentenced to death by a special anti-terror court on May 6, 2010.

The Bombay High Court had upheld on February 21 last year the trial court's order of death sentence to Kasab for the "brutal and diabolical" attacks aimed at "destabilising" the government.

Kasab's death penalty was upheld on charges of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the nation and various other provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror law --Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The high court had upheld Kasab's conviction on 19 counts under the IPC, Arms Act, Explosives Act, Explosive Substances Act, Foreigners Act, Passport Act and Railway Act.