Mumbai, April 6: The bodies of the nine Pakistani gunmen killed during 26/11 were buried 14 months later this January, the Maharashtra government said today, but refused to reveal the exact date and location.
“We came to the conclusion that they (the bodies) were not required (for the ongoing trial) and hence the bodies were buried in January this year,” state home minister R.R. Patil told the Legislative Council.
Absolute secrecy was maintained during the process, said Patil, who had quit as home minister in the previous state government over the November 26, 2008, attacks in which 170 people died. India had blamed the Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Asked if he had taken special court judge M.L. Tahaliyani’s permission, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said: “We had not sought permission of the court as the identification parade to identify the slain terrorists had been completed, and we no longer required these bodies as far as prosecution evidence goes.”
But authorities at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital, in whose morgue the bodies had been kept, appeared to be in the dark about the disposal of the bodies. Dr T.P. Lahane, the dean of the hospital, said: “I have heard that the home minister has made some statement in the House. I do not have any information about this. I am trying to contact the doctor in charge of the morgue.” Senior police officers were not available for comment.
Armed policemen had been posted at the morgue. After the post-mortem, DNA samples were taken from the bodies.
Several Muslim organisations had condemned the attacks as “un-Islamic” and opposed the burial of Pakistani terrorists in India.
The Jama Masjid Trust, which runs the 7.5-acre Bada Kabrastan, one of the largest Muslim graveyards in Mumbai, had refused to bury the gunmen on the ground that they were not true followers of Islam.
Today, Patil suggested the issue was on the top of his mind after he became minister again following the Congress-NCP coalition’s return to power in October. “Among the first things I did after I assumed charge (as home minister) was to have a series of meetings and seek details of whether we need to preserve the bodies.”
Patil was responding to criticism from the Opposition about the mounting government expenditure on preservation of the bodies and the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman captured alive in the attacks.