Mumbai: Ajmal Qasab -- the only terrorist caught in Mumbai during 26/11 terror attacks - has plead not guilty. On Wednesday, clad in a mauve shirt, he calmly told a Mumbai court.
"It's all wrong. I do not accept it."
Then the u-turn. Asked his age, Qasab says he's 21. Last week he had insisted he was barely 17.
Says Special Public Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam: "I am not surprised at all. Qasab is a terrorist and right from the beginning it's been his strategy to mislead the court. When he had a gun in his hand he was hero but now he's coward.... The cat is out of the bag."
Abbas Kazmi, Qasab's lawyer, retorts: "He said that he is 21 only because the court has decided he's 21. He still thinks he's 17 and a half."
Qasab, along with the other 2 accused, has been charged on 86 counts including conspiracy, waging war against the nation, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, causing grievous injury, Sections of Arms Act, Explosives Act, Passport Act, Railways Act, Foreigners Act, Customs Act.
Qasab is charged being a part of the conspiracy of that killed 166 people, along with dead terrorist Abu Ismail. He's accused of killing 72 bullets from his gun have been found in 7 dead bodies.
"Given the evidence against him we can easily prove he's guilty," says Nikam. It may sound incredulous that despite the world having seen him in action, Qasab has pleaded not guilty. But that's his right. And now the onus is on the prosecution to prove Qasab's guilt.