MUMBAI: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation played a key part in establishing the case against the suspected Pakistani gunman on trial in India for last year’s Mumbai attacks, a court heard yesterday.
“FBI investigators have played a vital role in disclosing the truth in this case ... and exposing the nexus between (Mohammed Ajmal Qasab) and the deceased accused,” said public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. More than 100 witnesses, including US FBI agents, will testify at the trial of the man police say is the only surviving gunman in the bloody Mumbai siege, Nikam said.
A total of 1,820 witnesses have been cited in the case but only 109 potential witnesses will be examined, Nikam informed the special court in Mumbai.
Five foreign experts will present evidence against Mohammed Ajmal Qasab, Nikam told the court yesterday on the second day of the trial. Qasab is accused of being one of 10 gunmen who killed 179 people, including several Americans, in a three-day rampage through the city that targeted a train station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish center.
Nikam said the FBI had analyzed four global positioning devices found on the dead gunmen after the attacks and these would be instrumental in proving the men had come from Pakistan.
Opening the trial Friday, Nikam said Qasab had a direct hand in the deaths of 72 people and was part of “a criminal conspiracy hatched in Pakistan” which could not have been undertaken without training from “intelligence professionals” in Pakistan. India has blamed the Muslim militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Pakistani officials have acknowledged the November attacks were partly plotted on their soil and announced criminal proceedings against eight suspects. They also have acknowledged that
In another stunning disclosure, Qasab has confessed that he and his associate Abu Ismail were planning to attack the posh Malabar Hill area of south Mumbai.
“After carrying out the attacks on Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus that evening, the duo was planning to proceed toward Malabar Hill,” Nikam said, shortly after the second day’s hearing.
Located in south Mumbai, Malabar Hill is home to VVIPs, including Maharashtra chief minister, governor, high court judges, central and state ministers, high-ranking bureaucrats, politicians, industrialists, businessmen, head honchos of multinationals, scientists, diplomats, religious heads, leading academicians and expats.
