The man and his role

Originally from Faridkot village in Pakistan's Punjab province, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, 21, is believed to have been a petty thief before he met a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative while trying to buy a gun and got sucked into the terror fold. Kasab underwent rigorous training and was assigned the codename of Abu Mujahid for the 26/11 operation.

CST railway station

9.54 pm

At 9.54 pm on November 26, 2008, Babloo Kumar Deepak, 32, was making a note in his register and watching the new lot of passengers. Barely a minute later Deepak heard an explosion from the direction of platform number 14, where the Indrayani Express had just arrived. "From the chaos and the sound of the guns, it seemed there were many terrorists," said Deepak, who soon saw Ajmal Amir Kasab stroll towards the suburban section, getting a clear view of his face as the young man with an automatic rifle moved towards platforms 7 and 6, walking with a slight bounce in his gait and taking aim calmly.

Around 10.10 pm, the two terrorists reached platform numbers 2 and 3, which by now were deserted. From the announcer's post he was sharing that day, G S Tiwari, 36, could hear the attackers closing in. "Then I saw them. Only Kasab was firing, the other man was in an alert position with his gun ready, both walking towards the central concourse... They were relaxed, in no hurry."

RPF constable Jhilu Yadav fired one round at one of the terrorists. In return, the terrorist fired several rounds. The constables closely missed the bullets. (At 10.25 pm) Kasab and Khan took the north end foot overbridge out of the railway station, crossing over to the other side of DN Road.

Cama & Albless Hospital

10.45 pm

Kasab and Khan walked into a dark lane leading to the back entrance of the Cama & Albless Hospital. They opened fire in the employees' quarters. They then arrived at the open collapsible gate at the entrance of the six-storey building. At the gate were security personnel Bhanu Narkar and Baban Ugade, both shot dead. Kasab and Khan moved upstairs, close on the heels of Raosaheb Phunde, a guard who was flying up the stairs, screaming for people to hide or run. On the fourth and the fifth floors, the maternity wards were inaccessible. One was locked from the inside and the other was fastened by women, using a cloth. Inside, with all the lights switched off, more than 40 mothers held their babies close as nurses instructed them to breastfeed the babies to prevent them from crying.

... contd.

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