Karachi to Mumbai: The team set off at about 8 am on November 22 in a small boat, it has emerged from GPS data and Kasab’s interrogation. About 40 minutes later, they were moved to a larger boat called Al-Hussaini that Kasab has said belonged to Lakhvi, the LeT commander. A day later, on November 23, at about 3 pm, the MV Kuber docked next to Al-Hussaini and the team changed boats, killed four of the five-member crew there and retained the boat captain to help navigate the 550 nautical miles to Mumbai. The vessel maintained a safe 60-80 km distance from the Indian coast and followed four positions marked out on the GPS as JALA 1, JALA 2, JALA 3, JALA 4 (Budhwar Park). They reached Mumbai at 4 pm on November 26 and waited 4 nautical miles off the coast till dark. Team leader Ismail Khan contacted their Pak handler who instructed him to kill Kuber captain Amar Sinh Solanki. Then they boarded an inflatable dinghy, and using a GPS instrument, reached Budhwar Park an hour and 15 minutes later. Instructions were to throw away the satellite phone, but they failed to do so and left it in the dinghy.

Contacts with Pak handlers: The evidence which India has shared states that Ismail Khan, the team leader, tried contacting Pakistan on the phone even as he and Kasab were on the move. Throughout the attacks, India has said, Pakistani handlers were informing terrorists of developments by monitoring Indian news channels. Specific orders were given once to “set fire in the hotel” and take hostage “some important government functionary”. India has said it has evidence of handlers telling terrorists about the “impending assault” by the NSG from the roof. The controller in Pakistan once directed the terrorist that he wanted to hear screams of dying hostages. And terrorists were “specifically told that killing Jews would spoil India’s relations with Israel”.

... contd.