Kasab wanted to shift from Arthur Road jail to other prison

Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab admitted his guilt of perpetrating the 26/11 attacks in the trial court probably because he wanted to shift from the high security Arthur Road Prison to some other less secured jail, Government Counsel Ujjwal Nikam told the Bombay High Court today.

Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab admitted his guilt of perpetrating the 26/11 attacks in the trial court probably because he wanted to shift from the high security Arthur Road Prison to some other less secured jail, Government Counsel Ujjwal Nikam told the Bombay High Court on Thursday.

HT Image

"Perhaps Kasab was nursing an evil intention and the only inference one can draw from admission of guilt was that he wanted to go elsewhere because Arthur Road jail houses only undertrials and after conviction the inmates are shifted to other jails of Maharashtra," Nikam argued.

Nikam pointed a finger at Kasab asking why was he so keen to shift to some other jail? "May be he had something in mind by evolving a strategy to admit the crime in the court and seek early conviction," he submitted before a bench headed by Justice Ranjana Desai, which is hearing confirmation of death sentence awarded to Kasab for his role in the 26/11 attacks.

Stressing that Kasab was guilty of "waging war against the country", Nikam said the concept of war had changed in modern times. Earlier, war was fought between two troupes or countries but now-a-days groups or nations do not indulge in fighting directly but wage war through proxy, he said.

"26/11 attack amounted to waging war through proxy... Terrorism is a war waged by proxy and the dastardly terror strikes in Mumbai were attack on India's social fabric and economic strength by Lashkar-e-Taiba," Nikam said.