Hours after he pleaded guilty to his crimes in the 26/11 terror attack on Monday, Ajmal Amir Kasab apparently had another surprise for Judge M L Tahaliyani.

As he waited for his statement to be transcribed so that he could sign it before being taken back to his cell, the 21-year-old Pakistani prisoner offered to draw sketches of two senior Lashkar operatives who are wanted for their role in the attack but whose photographs have eluded the police and Indian intelligence agencies so far.

With Tahaliyani giving his approval, Kasab was provided with a pencil and paper to draw. He worked on the sketches late into the night on Monday and Tuesday. Guards at his high-security Arthur Road jail cell constantly watched him to ensure that he did not injure himself with the pencil, sources said.

On Wednesday, Kasab told the judge that he had finished drawing the sketches and had handed them over to prison officials. Tahaliyani is expected to get them in a few days, the sources told The Indian Express.

While the sources said they did not know what prompted Kasab to make such an offer, they echoed his lawyer Abbas Kazmi’s view that the prisoner’s mood has been fluctuating in the week leading up to his dramatic confession and guilty plea on Monday.

The two Lashkar operatives whose sketches have been drawn by Kasab figure among the terrorists named as wanted by the Mumbai Police chargesheet in the attack but are believed to be in Pakistan. They also figure among those against whom the police have issued non-bailable arrest warrants. While some details about them have been available with investigating agencies, they had no access to photographs or sketches of them, the sources said.

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