The batch of terrorists who reached Mumbai on boats two days ago to execute the worst terror attack on India had killed and thrown off-board three members of the crew of Kuber, the Indian trawler they hijacked, and beheaded the fourth, Amarsinh Solanki, whom they let live longer to help them with navigation.

Sources have told The Indian Express that reports from Coast Guard authorities said that Solanki’s “headless body” was recovered from the 45-foot trawler about five nautical miles from the Mumbai coast during an aerial recce on the waters of Arabian Sea.

It’s also confirmed that the terrorists got off Kuber and boarded an inflatable dinghy — Gemini craft — which they used to land on Mumbai’s shore. Sources said that one of the terrorists caught is said to have admitted that Kuber had only one Gemini craft on board. “Eight terrorists boarded the craft to reach the shore on Wednesday,” a source said.

A Gemini craft is ideal for short-distance travel in the sea but not for long hauls. Interestingly, the serial number on a brand new Yamaha Out Board Motor (OBM) engine on the craft — now with the Mumbai police — had been obliterated. “They even removed the manufacturers’ stickers on it,” the source said, underlining once again the level of planning that preceded the attack.

Sources said only about four litres of fuel was found to have been used in Gemini craft’s 20-litre tank. “So we are working on the probability that a mother ship dropped the terrorists into a couple of Indian fishing boats (including Kuber) to avoid detection in Indian waters. Once they reached close to the alighting point, they lowered themselves into smaller crafts they had with them, splitting into groups for the attacks,” the source said.

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