By IANS,
Mumbai : Noted criminal expert M.L. Tahilyani has been
appointed to try Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist nabbed alive during
the Mumbai terror attacks, a law department official said here Tuesday.
Tahilyani, a former CBI court judge, had shot to fame when he conducted the
trial in the murder of music baron Gulshan Kumar. He is currently a
registrar in the Bombay High Court.
Last month, the state government had appointed Ujjwal Nikam as the public
prosecutor in the Kasab case. Nikam served as the public prosecutor in the
March 1993 serial bomb blasts case and among many others, secured the
conviction of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt under the Arms Act for illegally
procuring an AK-47 rifle. Dutt’s appeal against this is being heard in the
Supreme Court.
Later this month, police are expected to file the charge sheet in the 12
cases filed against Kasab, who is presently under police custody.
The charge sheet will be filed as per the commitment made by Home Minister
Jayant Patil in the state legislature last month. He announced that the
investigations into the case will be complete and the charge sheet will be
filed before Republic Day Jan 26.
However, since Jan 26 is a Monday and is preceded by two holidays, the
police may file the charge sheet anytime before Jan 24, the official said.
After the charges are filed before a magistrate, he will assign the case to
the sessions court Tahilyani will preside over.
Later, Kasab would be given an opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty to
the charges against him. If he pleads guilty, there could be no trial and a
verdict would be pronounced.
However, as is usually the case, if Kasab pleads not guilty, it would result
in a trial, the date for which will be announced later, the official said.
Recently, Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Rakesh Maria had said the trial
is likely to be conducted within the precincts of the high security Arthur
Road Jail, which was the venue of the trial of the March 1993 serial blasts
case.
What is not yet clear is who will defend Kasab during the trial. While
Mumbai lawyers have refused to take up his case, Kasab has demanded that a
Pakistani lawyer should defend him.