“ Badle tumne rang bahut, bahut badle nakab; Fansi tak hamne tumhe la hi diya Kasab. [You changed colours, you changed masks; but in the end I brought you to the gallows].”
This is how public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam responded to the Bombay High Court's decision to uphold the death sentence to Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
Describing the 24-year-old Kasab as nautanki ka khalnayak (villain of a drama) and atank ki andhi (the storm of terror), Mr. Nikam said Kasab never showed any remorse after being captured and even told a magistrate in his confessional statement that he felt sorry for arriving late at CST as there were fewer people whom he could kill.
“Kasab told the magistrate that he wanted more terrorists to be ready to attack India. He had no regrets for what he had done,” said Mr. Nikam, who also led the prosecution during the trial.
“Kasab had been taught by his mentors to shift stand if caught alive in order to confuse the authorities. He even tried to mislead the court by claiming he was a minor, but we frustrated all his manoeuvres,” he said.
Mr. Nikam (56) has secured life sentence for 615 accused and death penalty for 35 in his career spanning over two decades.
