Kasab wants a Pak lawyer as court removes Waghmare

Special judge M L Tahilyani said that Waghmare had also taken a case for a victim of the 26/11 attacks,who is also a witness in the trial. However,she had not disclosed this fact when she was appointed in the court.

The court will now decide who will defend Kasab on Thursday.

Earlier,Kasab and his two co-accused Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmad were produced under tight security at the court but special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam did not open his argument in the morning. The hearing will resume after lunch.

Waghmare’s appointment was mired in a controversy and she was in a tight spot in the wake of allegations that the lawyer had first accepted brief of a witness in this case before deciding to defend Kasab.

Citing public interest,Advocate K B N Lam had moved an application before the court alleging that Waghmare had accepted the brief from Harishchandra Shrivardhankar,who was victim of attack by Kasab and his team members at Cama hospital in Mumbai on November 26 last year.

He is a prime witness in the case and was seeking compensation from the government for injuries sustained in his neck during the attack.

While striking down Waghmares’s appointment,the court allowed Waghmare’s assistant KP Pawar to continue to represent Kasab. Waghmare had earlier been appointed from a legal aid cell and her residence had been attacked by Shiv Sena activists on the night after her appointment had been declared. Following the attack on her residence Waghmare had also stated that she would withdraw her vakalatnama only to change her mind the next day and state that she would continue to defend Kasab.