Waghmare outside the trial court in Mumbai. (PTI)

Mumbai, April 15: A search has begun afresh to find a lawyer to defend Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman captured during the 26/11 attacks, after a trial court today barred Anjali Waghmare from defending him as she was also representing one of his victims.

Judge M.L. Tahilyani said Waghmare was unsuitable to represent Kasab as she had not disclosed that she had already accepted a brief on behalf of a witness who was allegedly injured by the gunman on November 26.

This witness is seeking compensation from the government and had approached the legal aid cell of Bombay High Court to help him find a lawyer.

“I feel you should have disclosed to the court that you had already been appointed by the legal aid cell to appear for the witness in this case,” the judge told Waghmare at the specially built court housed at the city’s Arthur Road jail, where the gunman is being held.

Kasab, 21, asked the judge to get him a Pakistani lawyer. Tahilyani replied that a similar request from him had already been forwarded to the Pakistani consulate without any reply.

“Please try one more time,” Kasab pleaded. Tahilyani said “OK”, but added that he would not wait for a response from Pakistan and would decide on Kasab’s lawyer tomorrow.

Kasab, dressed in a scruffy grey T-shirt and blue tracksuit bottoms, spent much of the morning court session smiling.

Kasab was rebuked by Tahilyani for chatting with co-defendants Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, two Indians charged with carrying out a recce for the attacks.

The judge said there had been enough opportunity for Waghmare to disclose her conflict of interest as her appointment as defence lawyer followed “meetings with lawyers and legal aid cell panel members, including Waghmare”. The court, however, retained K.P. Pawar, who was appointed along with Waghmare to defend Kasab.

Waghmare admitted having met the witness but said she had no knowledge then that the court would later appoint her as Kasab’s lawyer. She claimed that once she was appointed defence lawyer, she had told the witness she could not represent him.

Tahilyani reminded her she had met him after she was appointed defence lawyer but even then had not mentioned her appointment as a lawyer for the witness.

A complaint has been filed against Waghmare with the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa alleging she was guilty of professional misconduct. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said he hoped the trial would begin at “the earliest, maybe by Friday”.