Ajmal Kasab gave three confessions. One on November 28-29, 2008, two days after 26/11, before police, another on February 20 and 21, 2009, before magistrate and the third on July 20, 2009, before Special Court Judge M.L. Tahaliyani, five days after denying all 86 charges framed against him. Excerpts from the third confession follow:
Kasab started out with an outburst: “Mujhe gunaah kubul hain. Mujhe Saza sunayiye. Aur Yeh Trial ko Khatam Kijeye (I confess to my crimes, please pronounce my conviction and end this trial).
Then he gave a three-hour long statement. Kasab named LeT chief of operations Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a key LeT operative Abu Hamza, trainer Abu Kaahfa and Abu Jindal as the handlers.
LeT camps
Twenty-one of us were taken to a hilly place at Battal where we were trained by the LeT operatives to handle AK-47s, pistols and other weapons. We were to carry out some exercises. From there, we went to Daura-e-Khaas for three months for further training.
The identity card that was produced in the court was made at Pakhada. From there I went to Savai Nullah at Muzzafarabad Azad Kashmir.
I was asked to go home for a week and then return. After 10-12 days, Saeed bhai, Abu Hamza and Abu Kaahfa near the selection camp and some of us were selected and were told that we had to go to Kashmir.
Mumbai landing
When we alighted off the Mumbai coast at Badhwar Park (at Cuffe Parade in south Mumbai), Abu Ismail and myself were together as was told by Abu Hamza. We were the first ones to move out from the Badhwar Park.
CST rampage
We boarded a taxi and asked the driver to take them to VTS (Victoria Terminus Station — as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus — is known). As had been directed by Hamza, we left one bomb in the taxi and the other at VTS. We then came to the VTS and there I opened fire at people present indiscriminately as had been told. While I was firing, Ismail threw grenades. He also later opened fire at the people from his AK-47.
Ismail and I opened fire at the public at VTS with the help of the weapons we were carrying and have been seized by the police. We continued to fire and also threw grenades at intervals.
Gunbattle
(Three senior police officials Hemant Karkare, the then Maharashtra ATS chief; Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar were shot near the Cama Hospital by Kasab and Ismail)
Since we did not know the way out we kept coming back at the same spot. The jeep was also punctured. I told Ismail that I was not in a position to do anything, as I was injured. I had suffered injuries on my right elbow and left wrist.
Ismail asked me to keep my cool and told that even he had sustained bullet injury on his knee. While we were in the jeep we saw a Skoda car. We got down from the jeep and asked the passengers, a man and a woman to get out of the car. They did so. Ismail tried to start the car but there were no keys.
I then went to the man and asked for the keys which he showed was under the vehicle. We then took the vehicle and followed another white car as we did not know where to go. We reached at some point where we saw police who had barricaded the road.
The earlier car had passed but when the police asked us to stop. Ismail tried to take a U-turn but he could not do it. (Ismail was eventually shot dead.) The police then dragged me out and assaulted me with lathis. They also snatched my gun and attacked me in the stomach with the butt of the gun. I did not fire at any one. When I regained consciousness I was in Nair hospital.
