His lawyer’s concluding arguments: Evidence against Kasab ‘weak’

There is no conclusive evidence to prove that Kasab was present at the spot,near Cama Hospital,where Karkare and two other officers were gunned down and also to show that he had fired at them,the lawyer said.

Solkar said the police had tried to connect Kasab with other terrorists who created mayhem at Taj Mahal Hotel and Oberoi-Trident by saying that he too planted a bomb in a locker at Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus,adding that the argument was not backed by strong evidence.

On the prosecution’s argument that the rear windscreen of Skoda car hijacked by Kasab and his partner Abu Ismail was completely shattered by police bullets,Solakar said that the submission was “an after-thought and a pack of lies”.

The case was falsified by the panchnama of a police jeep which indicated that there were only three holes in thewindscreen which resulted from the bullets fired by the police,Solkar argued.

He also alleged that one of the jackets found in Kuber was planted by the police to show yhat Kasab also arrived in Kuber along with other terrorists from Pakistan. Kasab has claimed that he was arrested by the police from the Juhu beach and that he was in custody when terrorists struck the city. The prosecution will reply to defence arguments on Monday. Later the court will hear government’s appeal challenging the acquittal of Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed. The case is expected to conclude within a week.

Lawyers told to inspect dinghy

The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked lawyers of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab to inspect the dinghy used by terrorists to reach the coast on November 26,2008. Lawyers Amin Solkar,Farhana Shah,Santosh Deshpande and Hussein Sheikh had argued that the dinghy is not big enough to accomadate ten people and baggage.

The dinghy,in custody of the trial court in the high-security Arthur Road Central Prison,will be inspected on Friday after which the lawyers will present their arguments before the court.

According to the confession made by Kasab before a city magistrate,the attackers had brought the dinghy from Pakistan on the Al-husseini boat. Later they hijacked Indian fishing boat Kuber and on approaching Mumbai they abandoned Kuber and used the dinghy to reach the coast.