In another stunning disclosure, captured Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab has confessed that he and his associate Abu Ismail were planning to attack the posh Malabar Hill area of south Mumbai on Nov 26 last year.
"After carrying out the attacks on Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus that evening, the duo was planning to proceed towards Malabar Hill," Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said, shortly after the second day's hearing in Mumbai on Saturday.
However, the duo who were fleeing in a hijacked car, were stopped at a police road block near Chowpatty beach that night.
While Ismail was killed in the shootout with security forces, Kasab was nabbed. The details of the sites to be attacked at Malabar Hill were known to Ismail, Nikam said.
Located in south Mumbai, Malabar Hill is home to VVIPs, including Maharashtra chief minister, governor, high court judges, central and state ministers, high-ranking bureaucrats, politicians, industrialists, businessmen, head honchos of multinationals, scientists, diplomats, religious heads, leading academicians and expats.
While Kasab and Ismail were directly involved in attacks at seven of the 13 sites attacked on 26/11, the others were attacked by their eight associates, all of whom were gunned down by the security forces during the 60-hour operation. Nikam said Kasab has also revealed in his 40-page confessional statement how the attacks were planned in Pakistan.
{{/usCountry}}While Kasab and Ismail were directly involved in attacks at seven of the 13 sites attacked on 26/11, the others were attacked by their eight associates, all of whom were gunned down by the security forces during the 60-hour operation. Nikam said Kasab has also revealed in his 40-page confessional statement how the attacks were planned in Pakistan.
{{/usCountry}}However, on the first day of the Mumbai terror attacks trial Friday, Kasab claimed he had made the confessional statement under duress. Through his court-appointed government lawyer SG Abbas Kazmi, he filed an application to retract his 40-page confession recorded before a magistrate.
"The denial will have no impact on the trial," Nikam asserted. He added that the process of examining witnesses - over a hundred - will be started soon.
Kasab also claimed he was 17 and should be tried in a juvenile court.