Kasab made the fall guy, says his lawyer

B-185, MUM-040220 - FEBRUARY 4, 2009 - Mumbai: Fresh picture of Amir Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. PTI Photo NICAID:111772480

K.P. Pawar, defence lawyer for 26/11 accused Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, said that his client was made a scapegoat as he was a Pakistani and had been languishing in jail at the time of the attack.

Referring to the lone gunman's statement recorded under section 313 of the Cr.P.C., Mr. Pawar said Kasab was “a rural boy, illiterate and innocent. He was made privy to the attack. He had come from Pakistan to watch a movie. He was roaming in Mumbai, when the police nabbed him and confiscated his passport.”

The defence lawyer said Kasab had no connection with the attack. “This was an attack by the neighbouring country and it was difficult to hold any of the attackers on the spot. Since it was a gigantic attack, the prosecution used Kasab's presence in jail as an opportunity and held him responsible…The perpetrators are different persons. He is not concerned with them. He is not remotely connected with the attack. He was unnecessarily anchored in the case. The prosecution has made [him] a cheerleader dancing in the Brabourne Stadium. It's been alleged that I [Kasab] am the perpetrator of the attack, that I am one of the attackers. I have to vehemently deny this,” Mr. Pawar said.

He said his client's judicial confession and statement of plea were taken from him “under duress” and by way of misguiding him about the Indian legal system and offering him a bait that he would be shifted to some other place.

He contended that the prosecution relied more on the lacunae in the defence's case rather than standing on its own leg and said the volume of prosecution's evidence was not “free from doubt.” “It's my challenge to the prosecution that they should show a single [piece of] evidence against me [Kasab] which is free from doubt. If the quantity of improbability is there, it is difficult to blame me.”

Footage ‘demonstrative'

The defence held that even the CCTV footage, photographs and DNA reports which the prosecution adduced as evidence “are demonstrative.”

“The public at large believes in this evidence. I will show that this evidence is improbable, manipulated and fabricated.”

The defence went on to pick holes in witness testimonies. Mr. Pawar said Devika Rotawar, a child witness and victim, who had deposed in the trial and identified Kasab in court, had been tutored.