- MUMBAI: The Home Department of the Maharashtra government has written to the federal government requesting it to write off the Rs.11 million bill the state incurred in providing security to the lone surviving 26/11 Mumbai terror attack alleged terrorist Ajmal Amir Qasab.
The state's argument is that the cost of providing security should be borne by the federal government or at least shared by the state and federal governments in this case. Thus the Maharashtra government had sent the letter demanding that the federal government write off the bill sent by the Indo-Tibetan Border Security Force (ITBP).
The ITBP had sent the Maharashtra government the bill toward the cost of providing security between March 2009 to September 2010 for Qasab, now lodged in the high security Arthur Road Prison in Mumbai. Principal Home Secretary Medha Gadgil confirmed receipt of the bill from ITBP.
The Maharashtra government had beefed up security by deploying the highly professional ITBP commandos to guard him. A large number of ITBP commandos are deployed in and around the Arthur Road Prison Complex.
