Kasab guilty says 26/11 verdict, 2 Indians acquitted

Kasab guilty says 26/11 verdict, 2 Indians acquitted

A special court has convicted Ajmal Kasab - the lone surviving terrorist from the 26/11 Mumbai attacks - holding him guilty of all 86 charges against him, including murdering 7 people, abetting the murder of 159, conspiracy and of waging war against the nation. He has also been found guilty of kidnapping and hurting public officials. (Read: 26/11 Mumbai attack case: Kasab's trial)




The court held that 26/11 was a war against India. It will hear arguments on quantum of sentence tomorrow. If a death sentence is handed out against Kasab, the case will automatically go the Mumbai High Court. The accused too has recourse to appeal in the Mumbai High Court and further to the Supreme Court. (Read: 26/11 trial: Key moments
Kasab's flip flops)



Importantly, the two Indians accused, Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, have been found not guilty of the charges against them. The two were alleged to have prepared the maps of terror targets and passed them on to the LeT for execution of their diabolic plan, but the court found the evidence against them weak. The judge lambasted the police for shoddy investigation against the two and said, "Google has better maps." (Read: Co-accused Fahim Ansari, Sahabuddin, acquitted)



On the killing of Mumbai's top cops, the verdict says Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte was killed by Kasab's partner Abu Ismail. It was not clear who killed Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare and senior Inspector Vijay Salaskar. All three were together with other policemen on the night of 26/11 when they spotted Kasab and Ismail, who fired at them. Kasab has been held personally accountable for killing innocent people at CST and Cama Hospital and for abetting murders at other sites.



Kasab, who was in court when the judgment was delivered, barely reacted to the guilty verdict. The court said 26/11 was a war against India and that the plot was hatched in Pakistan. It has named Lashkar leaders Hafeez Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi among the guilty who are absconding. (Read: Kasab village watches 26/11 judgement on TV)



The court said circumstantial evidence proved the 26/11 terrorists had handlers in Pakistan and that Saeed and Lakhvi were among 20 people involved in the conspiracy.



Eye-witness testimonies and Kasab's confession played a major part in the court reaching its verdict. These, CCTV footage, photographs, mobile records and forensic evidence had been stacked up against Kasab. Yet, it's not his involvement alone that the prosecution fought to establish, but the Pakistan link too. (Read: What Kasab did to Mumbai
Mind of a terrorist)



Ujjwal Nikam, the Public Prosecutor for the 26/11 trial, said before the verdict that the focus must be on the larger picture, "Not only from Kasab's evidence but also from other circumstantial evidence one can draw irrefutable and irresistible inference that some Pakistani army persons are involved in this place... David Headley has also admitted same thing, naming certain Pakistani Army people. So one thing is very clear that the security apparatus in Pakistan is behind the attack on 26/11." (Listen: How Pak remote controlled 26/11)



Though Kasab's turnarounds have surprised few, this largely open-and-shut case is a landmark in more ways than one. Catching a terrorist alive while he was attacking, piecing together the terror puzzle and then winding up the case within a year have been significant achievements. (Pics: Mumbai attacked
Bravehearts
In memory)



But the biggest setback, perhaps, that the masterminds are still at large.



For today, the focus is on Ajmal Kasab. This is the man the nation saw gunning down innocents. He may be a foot soldier in the larger plot, but his being found guilty is at least a symbolic justice. (Read & Watch: 26/11 team - The men who nailed Kasab)



The verdict comes 17 months after Kasab and nine other terrorists from Pakistan unleashed 62 hours of death and destruction on the country's financial capital on November 26, 2008.



Among the main charges that Ajmal Kasab has been held guilty of are:



* Murder of 7 people (Highest punishment - Death)

* Abetting murder of 159 people

* Conspiracy

* Under Unlawful Activities Prohibition Act for terrorism

* For being part of the banned Lashkar e Taiba

* Wrongful confinement of victims

* Kidnapping

* Under the Explosives Act

* Under the Explosives Substances Act

* Under the Arms Act

* Under the Railways Act

* Under the Customs Act

* Robbery
 
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/kasab-guilty-says-2611-verdict-2-indians-acquitted-22835.php