I was a cook, heard about LT from Mumbai cops: Kasab

MUMBAI (Agencies) - Lone surviving gunman Ajmal Kasab said on Tuesday that he was not a Jihadi and had not undergone any training at the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT) camp in Pakistan. Kasab told the court, which was recording the gunmans final statement on the prosecution evidence, he was a cook with a catering company in Saarayee-Alamghir near Jhelum. He said he had reached India by the Samjhauta Express after buying a ticket and getting a confirmed berth for Rs2,400. He also said the police shot him in the hand inside a police station. I am scared of prosecutor Nikam, said Kasab to the court while giving his statement on evidence adduced by the prosecution against him. Denying any involvement with LT and Jamaatud Daawa (JuD), Kasab declined meeting Hafiz Sayed, Zakiur Lakhvi, Abu Kahfa and Abu Hamza. I heard the names of LT and JuD from the police here. Crime Branch officials had shown the photograph of Lakhvi, Kasab said. Asked by the court if he was introduced to one Maj-Gen Saab at the training camp, Kasab said, This is absolutely wrong. The judge, M L Tahaliyani, was putting questions to Kasab on the basis of his confession before magistrate in February; however Kasab disowned the confession, saying it was given under duress. When special Judge M L Tahaliyani referred to his statement in the confession that Hafiz Mohammad Saeed had told 30 boys at the LT training camp that they would have to lay down their lives for liberating Kashmir, Kasab said: This is absolutely wrong. Saying that the police had threatened to administer electric shocks to him if he did not give a statement to the magistrate, Kasab said the police had prepared the confession and forced him to recite it. Asked by the court, if he was told in the training that they would go to heaven if they attacked India, Kasab replied in the negative saying he did not attend the training. Kasab also denied having told the police anything about Kuber boat and a dead body found on the boat. According to the prosecution, the group of ten terrorists had hijacked Kuber on their way to Mumbai from Karachi in Pakistan. I have never seen the boat; crime branch and FBI had showed me pictures of Kuber and my clothes and articles seized from the boat. These articles must belong to either fishermen or smugglers. The AK-47 rifle may belong to the police and it is not mine. An identity card recovered from his trouser pocket was shown to Kasab in the court on Tuesday, but he refused to identify himself. Its not me. Trousers are not mine, I was wearing leather pants, he stated. Similarly, about the money seized from him, he said that it was not his. The police had taken Rs2,400 from me on November 25, which I had kept for my return ticket. Those currency notes did not have any marks on them. These notes have something written on them, Kasab said when he was shown the Rs100-note. Ajmal Kasab further said that all the witnesses were briefed by the police. One witness had in the identification parade identified me as the one in Hotel Taj. That witness was not brought to court during the trial, Kasab said. He further said that all the witnesses were shown his photograph prior to the parade and thus they could identify him and witnesses were prompted by the police. Kasab also alleged that even when he was in custody, three crime branch officials were guarding him and used to threaten him to give the statement before the magistrate. I had given this complaint in writing to the magistrate on February 18, when I was produced for recording my confession. But when nothing was done on it, I kept mum and did not complain again, Kasab said. Kasab and two Indians- Faheem Ansari and Sabaudding Ahmed - are facing trial for their alleged involvement in the 26/11 attacks.

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