By IANS,
Mumbai : The Maharashtra home department has recommended to President Pranab Mukherjee to reject condemned Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab’s mercy plea, an official said Monday. Its view came in a note to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
The development comes barely a week after Kasab, 25, addressed a brief mercy plea to President Mukherjee, seeking life imprisonment in lieu of the death sentence awarded to him in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, said the official, requesting anonymity.
The state home department has sent the note to Chavan who will soon take a decision in the matter. After Chavan’s comments are included, the state’s plea will go to the governor, who in turn will forward it to union home ministry in New Delhi, the official explained.
The Supreme Court had Aug 29 upheld Kasab’s conviction and the death sentence awarded to him by a Mumbai Special Court, and confirmed by the Bombay High Court.
The high-security Arthur Road Central Jail authorities, where Kasab is lodged, Sep 15 handed over a certified copy of the Supreme Court judgment to him.
Barely a couple of days later, Kasab filed his mercy plea directly to the president.
Kasab and nine other Pakistani gunmen 26/11 attacked various locations in south Mumbai and held the city at ransom, killing 166 people in the terror attacks lasting 60 hours.