Advocate for Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone gunman arrested for his alleged involvement in the November 26 terror strikes, sought four weeks time to reply to the draft charges proposed by the prosecution.

Abbas Kazmi, who was appointed by the court last week to represent Kasab, sought time to study the case. The prosecution had proposed 312 charges against Kasab and two others on Monday for their alleged involvement in the November 26 terror strikes which claimed over 160 lives.

Kasab also asked the court for a copy of the chargesheet to be translated for him into Urdu since he was unable to understand the copy given to him by the police.

He had earlier sought a copy of the chargesheet in Urdu saying that he would be able to understand it better.

Special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam asked the court to order an inquiry to determine the actual age of Kasab and sought that the prosecution should be allowed to submit its findings. Kasab's lawyer said he had no objection to it.

Kasab, a resident of Faridkot in Pakistan, had claimed in an application filed last week that he was a juvenile. However, the application was dismissed by special judge M L Tahilyani.

The court has reserved its judgement in the applications and adjourned proceedings till Wednesday.

Another accused, Sabauddin Ahmed pleaded through his lawyer Ejaz Naqvi that he had been subjected to third degree torture methods while in police custody and sought the dismissal of the concerned police officials.

... contd.