Prosecution proposes 312 charges against Kasab, 2 others

Mumbai, April 20 (PTI) The prosecution Monday
submitted a draft of 312 charges it proposes to be framed
against Pakistan national Mohammmed Ajmal Amir Kasab and two
Indians, Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, facing trial for
gunning down 166 persons and injuring another 238 in the
terror strike in Mumbai.

Thirty five accused are shown as wanted in the
166-page document of draft charges, submitted by special
public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam to the court.

Those wanted include Hafeez Mohammed Saeed, chief of
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), Zaki-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Abu Hamza.

The accused have been charged under the provisions of
IPC, Arms Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,
Explosives Act, Explosives Substances Act, Passport (entry
into India) Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act,
Railways Act, Customs Act and Foreigners Act.

Prosecutor Nikam said Kasab, Ansari and Sabauddin were
charged with murder of 166 persons and injuring 238. Under
IPC, they were charged with waging war against India,
conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder, causing grievous
injuries, wrongful confinement, wrongful restraint and causing
mischief by fire.

While Kasab and nine others committed terrorist acts
by gunning down people at various places in Mumbai, Ansari and
Sabauddin had prepared maps and handed them over to the LeT
in Pakistan following a conspiracy hatched between December
2007 and November 2008.

The proposed charges mentioned that Kasab and arrested
accused, Faheem and Sabauddin, struck terror in Mumbai by
conspiring and killing 166 persons and injuring 238 with an
intention to compel the Government of India to separate Jammu
and Kashmir from the country.

Kasab and others have been charged with killing five
crew members of the boat "Kuber" by which they reached the
shores of Mumbai from Karachi in Pakistan. They also face
charges of planting a bomb in a taxi that exploded in Vile
Parle, firing at CST and Cama hospital, killing 3 policemen
near Rang Bhavan, stealing a Skoda car and killing a policeman
at Chowpatty.

Kasab and other accused also face conspiracy charges
for the firing at Hotel Taj and Oberoi, Nariman House,
restaurant Leopold Cafe and planting a bomb that exploded at
Mazgaon.

Prosecutor said Kasab and suspected members of LeT
were able to succeed in their designs to strike terror in
Mumbai on November 26 because of maps allegedly provided by
Faheem and Sabauddin.

He pointed out that there is a reference to the maps
in Kasab's confession wherein LeT's chief of operations
Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi tells conspirators that maps have been
prepared by our two jehadis from India, Faheem and Sabauddin.

Lakhvi had instructed the accused to destroy the maps
at the spot after committing the crime. However, a map was
found in Ismail's pocket after he was killed by armed forces.
Hand writing experts have opined that they were made by
Faheem, the prosecutor told the court.

Prosecutor Nikam said the objective of the conspiracy
hatched in Pakistan was not only to strike terror in Mumbai by
gunning down several people but also to commit such acts in
other metropolitan cities of India.

He said the striking features of the November 26
terror attack conspiracy was to overawe the Government of
India, strike terror among people, collect arms and men to
wage war against India and organise training camps in Pakistan
to attack important locations of metro cities in India.

Nikam further said that conspirators had also planned
to destabilise the government of India by engineering violence
in different parts of the country, creating instability in
India by subversive activities, terrorising people and
destroying their properties through bomb attacks, fire arms
and lethal weapons.

Another objective, he said, was to weaken India's
economic might and kill foreign nationals to desist them from
visiting India or investing in India, adversely affect harmony
between Hindus and Muslims, attack territorial integrity of
India and capture Kashmir by attacking major cities of India.

The judge would hear Kasab's lawyer Abbas Kazmi
tomorrow on the charges proposed to be framed against the
accused. PTI SVS
PMR
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