Mumbai:
The world's first introduction to Ajmal Kasab was a bloody one. Caught on camera by a tabloid photographer in Mumbai, he had just finished his business at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. In cargo pants and sneakers, a backpack on his shoulders, an AK-47 dangling carelessly from his arm, he was accompanied by his partner-in-crime, Abu Ismail. Together, they had unleashed their part of a giant strike, meticulously planned and chillingly executed - one that would bring India face-to-face with a sort of terror it had never imagined.
Kasab opened fire at the heart of Mumbai's train network. Abu Ismail hurled hand grenades. In a matter of 70 minutes, 58 people were killed, another 90 were injured. A little girl, nine-year-old Devika, would later be among 30 witnesses to identify Kasab as the man whose bullets they dodged on a Wednesday evening.
Kasab and Ismail walked out of the station calmly, and headed to Cama Hospital, just a five-minute walk away. Their plan was to take patients hostage. The staff at the maternity hospital had by now heard of the attack at CST and had blocked the main entrance. Kasab and Ismail used a small gate behind the hospital to enter it.
The hospital staff fought valiantly to protect the women and children inside. They used mattresses to fortify locked doors. Kasab and Ismail killed 7 people, including two policemen here.
They then strolled out of the hospital and came across a police jeep. Inside were three of Mumbai's top cops-Hemant Karakare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte. The policemen thought they saw something moving in the bushes, and slowed down. Kasab and Abu opened fire. The three policemen were injured, and would later die. Kasab was injured in the arm.
The terrorists threw the policemen on the road and drove away with the police jeep. Inside, a police constable, Arun Jadhav, lay still, pretending to have died in the shootout.
Kasab and Abu Ismail then shot at another police party. When the jeep they had stolen developed a flat tyre and started wobbling, they abandoned it. Jadhav was still inside.
The terrorists then carjacked a Skoda and started driving towards Girgaum Chowpatty beach. They rammed their car into a police barricade. In the firing that followed, Abu Ismail was killed. Kasab was captured.
By midnight, he was in police custody, being questioned in a hospital bed. And India got some insight into a man, who along with nine others, sneaked into Mumbai in a small boat, trained to kill.
Interrogators found that getting Kasab to share his story was surprisingly easy. His journey from an impoverished rural family in the Faridpur village of Pakistan to a loyal footsoldier of the jihad spoke of a young man who needed money and was lured by the thrill of violence.
During the next 11 months, Kasab would confess, retract, giggle and weep during his trial. There was little doubt about the outcome. The evidence against Kasab included eye-witness accounts, CCTV footage, photographs. DNA tests linked him to the boat in which the ten terrorists sailed into Mumbai, the bullets used by him and his accomplice to kill Karkare and Mumbai's senior cops.
So Kasab often turned his days in court into a farce. As the case was drawing to a close, Kasab stumped everyone when he said he had arrived in Mumbai as a tourist, hoping to watch Bollywood films and was arrested by the Mumbai police weeks before 26/11. But he didn't stop there, he went on to say that his lookalike may have been at the CST railway station as he was in police custody during 26/11 and was implicated by the police later.
In the early days, he would walk with a deliberate swagger into the special court at the Arthur Road Jail, taking apparent pride in the posse of security personnel that surrounded him. Then he would smile at the media, and acknowledge the judge with a "Good Morning." Now he's just a shadow of his former self, showing little interest in court proceedings or even in all the security and fuss made around him. Quite a climb-down from his once cocky self to this now indifferent and aloof prisoner on foreign soil.
Kasab opened fire at the heart of Mumbai's train network. Abu Ismail hurled hand grenades. In a matter of 70 minutes, 58 people were killed, another 90 were injured. A little girl, nine-year-old Devika, would later be among 30 witnesses to identify Kasab as the man whose bullets they dodged on a Wednesday evening.
Kasab and Ismail walked out of the station calmly, and headed to Cama Hospital, just a five-minute walk away. Their plan was to take patients hostage. The staff at the maternity hospital had by now heard of the attack at CST and had blocked the main entrance. Kasab and Ismail used a small gate behind the hospital to enter it.
The hospital staff fought valiantly to protect the women and children inside. They used mattresses to fortify locked doors. Kasab and Ismail killed 7 people, including two policemen here.
They then strolled out of the hospital and came across a police jeep. Inside were three of Mumbai's top cops-Hemant Karakare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte. The policemen thought they saw something moving in the bushes, and slowed down. Kasab and Abu opened fire. The three policemen were injured, and would later die. Kasab was injured in the arm.
The terrorists threw the policemen on the road and drove away with the police jeep. Inside, a police constable, Arun Jadhav, lay still, pretending to have died in the shootout.
Kasab and Abu Ismail then shot at another police party. When the jeep they had stolen developed a flat tyre and started wobbling, they abandoned it. Jadhav was still inside.
The terrorists then carjacked a Skoda and started driving towards Girgaum Chowpatty beach. They rammed their car into a police barricade. In the firing that followed, Abu Ismail was killed. Kasab was captured.
By midnight, he was in police custody, being questioned in a hospital bed. And India got some insight into a man, who along with nine others, sneaked into Mumbai in a small boat, trained to kill.
Interrogators found that getting Kasab to share his story was surprisingly easy. His journey from an impoverished rural family in the Faridpur village of Pakistan to a loyal footsoldier of the jihad spoke of a young man who needed money and was lured by the thrill of violence.
During the next 11 months, Kasab would confess, retract, giggle and weep during his trial. There was little doubt about the outcome. The evidence against Kasab included eye-witness accounts, CCTV footage, photographs. DNA tests linked him to the boat in which the ten terrorists sailed into Mumbai, the bullets used by him and his accomplice to kill Karkare and Mumbai's senior cops.
So Kasab often turned his days in court into a farce. As the case was drawing to a close, Kasab stumped everyone when he said he had arrived in Mumbai as a tourist, hoping to watch Bollywood films and was arrested by the Mumbai police weeks before 26/11. But he didn't stop there, he went on to say that his lookalike may have been at the CST railway station as he was in police custody during 26/11 and was implicated by the police later.
In the early days, he would walk with a deliberate swagger into the special court at the Arthur Road Jail, taking apparent pride in the posse of security personnel that surrounded him. Then he would smile at the media, and acknowledge the judge with a "Good Morning." Now he's just a shadow of his former self, showing little interest in court proceedings or even in all the security and fuss made around him. Quite a climb-down from his once cocky self to this now indifferent and aloof prisoner on foreign soil.
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