So when he came face to face with Kasab a month later at an identification parade, it is now learnt, Jadhav could not hold himself back and lunged at the 21-year-old Pakistani prisoner and had to be separated with some difficulty so that he could not hurt Kasab.

“I could not control myself then,” Jadhav, who is attached to the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, told The Sunday Express. The cell was headed by Salaskar, who was driving the police Qualis in the lane behind Cama Hospital before they ran into the two terrorists and died in a hail of bullets.

Jadhav also played a key role in the capture of Kasab as it was he who alerted the control room when Kasab and Ismail hijacked and fled in a Skoda car, leading to the encounter on Girgaum Chowpatty. “Kasab is now facing trial and the law will punish him. I don’t want to say anything more than that,” Jadhav added.

Swati Sathe, superintendent of the high-security Arthur Road jail, where the incident took place, refused to comment. But jail sources confirmed it happened on December 27. “It was the second time Jadhav had come to meet Kasab, who had killed his bosses right before his eyes. Jail officials knew he was under tremendous emotional stress and had anticipated that he might try to do something and had deployed extra security outside the identification hall,” said one jail official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The identification, however, is conducted inside the so-called ‘pinjra cell’ in the presence of a special government-appointed officer and Jadhav, despite one injured hand being in a sling, apparently took advantage of that and lunged at Kasab. “He kept repeating this is the man who killed my bosses...this is the man,” the official said. Jail Superintendent Swati Sathe and other officials immediately rushed inside and pulled Jadhav back and took him out of the hall even as he shouted, “Let me kill him...he killed my boss and so many citizens of Mumbai...he shouldn’t live”, the official added.

While Jadhav is now back at the Anti-Extortion Cell, Kasab was permanently moved to the Arthur Road jail from the Crime Branch lock-up in February. Jail officials have deployed highly trusted staff to guard him and only about 10 percent of the entire staff have come anywhere near him. Even senior officers are frisked before being allowed near him.