By IANS,
Mumbai : The police Monday filed before a special court 312 draft charges against 47 terrorists, including 35 Pakistanis and Ajmal Amir Kasab, accused in the Mumbai terror attacks.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said that among the accused are the nine terrorists who were killed in the 60-hour gunbattle Nov 26-28, 2008 with security forces at various places, and the nabbed Lashkar-e-Taiba activists of India, Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed, who are facing trial with Kasab.
The charges pertain to waging war against India, killing and attempting to kill Indians and foreign nationals, hatching a criminal conspiracy, creating terror, destabilising the Indian government and weakening the country’s economy, Nikam said.
Continuing his opening remarks on the third day of the 26/11 trial before Special Judge M.L. Tahilyani, Nikam said Fahim and Sabahuddin were part of the 26/11 criminal conspiracy that was hatched in Pakistan.
“We have recovered maps of south Mumbai from the body of Abu Ismail, Kasab’s associate, who was killed in the encounter by the police at Girgaum Chowpatty,” he added.
The duo had met in Kathmandu where Fahim handed over the reconnaissance maps to Sabahuddin.
“Sabahuddin could have taken them to Karachi and handed them to Zakir Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind behind the 26/11 attacks. They were told that the maps were prepared after taking great pains,” Nikam added.
Among the targets in the posh Malabar Hill area was the Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Maharashtra governor.
Nikam also submitted before the special court four mobile phone numbers of which three were used by the accused to communicate amongst themselves during the Mumbai terror attacks.
During the proceedings, Kasab claimed that he could not follow the proceedings in the matter, his government-appointed lawyer S.G. Abbas Kazmi said.
“He said that he could only understand two words – Kasab and Pakistan – in the entire proceedings,” Kazmi pointed out.