Mumbai, December 23: Ajmal Kasab, accused in the 26/11 case, said he was not a jihadi but had worked as a cook with catering company Sarai-Alamghir, near Jhelum, and that he knew of no “Lashkar-e-Taliban”.
He denied allegations that he had undergone training in Muridke for over a year. “Main kissi Laskhar-e-Taliban ya Jamat-ud-Dawa ko nahin janta. Yaha aane par police ne hi mujhe ye naam bataye the” (I didn’t know LeT or Jamaat-ud-Dawa. I was told these names by the police).
He denied knowing Hafeez Saeed, Abu Kahafa and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar leaders named in the chargesheet.
He disowned the confession he is said to have made to magistrate R S Waghule after his arrest. He had not spoken a single word in Urdu, he said, and his original statement was on torture and pressure from the police.
He alleged three Crime Branch officials had pressured him to make the statement. “I gave the magistrate a written complaint in February. Nothing was done about it and I did not complain again.”
He alleged that the police had threatened electric shocks if he did not make a statement to the magistrate, and that the police had prepared the confession and forced him to recite it.
Of the boat the attackers used, he said, “Police and FBI showed me the picture. I haven’t otherwise seen the boat. The seized goods could belong either to fishermen or to smugglers.”
He disowned even an identity card recovered from his trouser pocket. “That’s not me. The trousers are not mine, I was wearing leather pants.” He accused the police of taking Rs 2,400 he had saved for his return ticket.
Kasab dropped a Marathi word here and there. Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said Kasab was trained in Marathi in Pakistan; he replied, “Ekhdech shiklo” (I learnt it here).
-Agencies