Four witnesses identify Kasab

Mumbai, June 29 (PTI) Four witnesses Monday identified
26/11 attacks accused Ajmal Kasab in a trial court, saying he
had injured them by firing bullets from his AK-47 rifle at the
Chhatrapati Shivaji railway terminus last year even as the
Pakistani gunman showed little emotions except for a smile.

Over 25 witnesses have identified Kasab as one of the
terrorists who had fired indiscriminately at people.

Kasab, facing charge of killing 166 people in the
attacks, initially did not react to the identification by the
witnesses but when one of them pointed a finger at him, he
smiled.

Asked to identify the person who had fired at CST, Ansar
Allahbus Saudagar pointed at Kasab who was sitting in the dock
with his head down. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam
asked Kasab to look at the witness for clear identification
and Kasab obliged by smiling at Saudagar.

"I heard a loud noise at CST and saw two persons firing.
The taller one (Abu Ismail) was firing at the policemen while
the shorter person (Kasab) was firing at people," Saudagar
said, adding he was hit by a bullet in right leg.

Another witness, Harshada Sarulkar, who was waiting to
take a train to her native place Sindhudurg, also identified
Kasab as the person who had fired at her. She said she was hit
by a bullet in left thigh.

Sangeeta Sardar and her husband Niranjan Sardar were the
other witnesses to identify Kasab saying they were injured
when he had fired bullets at them. Sangeeta was also injured
by splinters of a hand grenade thrown by slain terrorist
Ismail.

Niranjan said a tall terrorist had thrown a grenade and
he saw people falling down while the shorter one fired at him.
He fell down unconscious and woke up to find himself in a
hospital, the witness said.

To a suggestion by defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi that she
was deposing falsely at the instance of police, Sangeeta said
"My husband was injured. We have suffered. What can
police do?"

Two doctors also deposed as witnesses. One of them Baban
Shinde, attached to Byculla police hospital, said Kasab was
brought to the hospital for blood and DNA tests. He said he
collected samples and sent them to chemical analyser.

Asked if he could identify Kasab, Dr Shinde pointed at
Kasab sitting in the dock.

Another doctor, Rajesh Patil, said police had brought
Kasab to Nair hospital when he was on duty for a "handwash"
test. He too identified Kasab in the court.

Handwash test was taken to determine if there were any
traces of RDX on Kasab hands. It is the case of prosecution
that RDX were brought from Pakistan by the terrorists on
'Kuber' boat. PTI