E-Paper
‘26/11 trial to end by Sept 15? Says who?’
Post-26/11, when terrorists came in from the sea to attack Mumbai, ‘coastal security’ is the buzzword in officialdom. But how safe are our ports? How thoroughly do we check the huge cargo containers full of our imports that the ships bring in?
The judge hearing the 26/11 terror strike case was stunned by state Home Minister Jayant Patil’s statement that the trial would conclude by September 15.
Clarifying that the trial would not end by September 15, Judge M.L. Taheliyani asked Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam how could the home minister issue such a statement.
On Monday, Patil told reporters in Kolhapur that the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the Pakistani gunman captured alive during the November 26, 2008, terror strike, would by over by September 15.
The special court also rapped Crime Branch officers for failing to produce an additional opinion received from a ballistic expert attached to the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory, whose deposition was recorded on Tuesday.
“Your home minister is declaring dates, and you are not even stepping out of the police station yet,” the judge said when the officials said that the report was with their branch office.
On Tuesday, ballistic expert Wasudeo Patil told the special court that Kasab’s hand-wash taken at B.Y.L. Nair hospital, where the 21-year-old Pakistani national was admitted after being apprehended at Girgaum Chowpatty, was found positive.
“The liquid tested positive for fire gun shot residue nitrite and lead,” Patil said, confirming that Kasab had fired several rounds.
He also confirmed the bullet found in Kasab’s slain partner Abu Ismail’s body was fired from a revolver allotted to Sub-Inspector Prakash More, who died in the crossfire with the gunmen inside Cama Hospital.
Defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi will continue to cross-examine the witness on Wednesday.
