I am 21, admits Kasab

In court, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive after the 26/11 attacks, inadvertently admitted that he was 21 years old. He also said he hailed from Pakistan’s Punjab province. He stated his occupation as ‘labourer’ and gave his address as ‘At post-Faridkot, Tehsil-Dipalpur, District-Ukada, Punjab, Pakistan’.

There were peals of laughter in the courtroom at Arthur Road prison as Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said: “See, the cat is out of the bag.”

A smiling Kasab retorted that he gave his age as 21only because Nikam had said so.“Aapne mera kaha maana hota to aaj main yaha nahi hota (Had you listened to me, I would not have been here today),” Kasab said, indicating that had his claim of being a juvenile been accepted he would have been tried before a juvenile justice board.

Kasab had claimed that he was a minor at the time of the attack, but medical tests proved otherwise.

First Published: May 07, 2009 02:18 IST