The eagerly awaited trial of Ajmal Amir Kasab begins on April 15 but the lone Pakistani terrorist captured alive for the November 26 attacks in this city isn’t exactly sleepless in his tiny jail cell waiting for the outcome.

He offers namaaz five times a day, indulges in banter with his guards, is tired of solitary confinement but is unrepentant for his actions and awaits jannat, or the heaven promised to every jihadi.

“Mujhe bhi usi din jannat milni chahiye thi,” (Even I should have gone to heaven that day) he is believed to often tell his guards, referring to his nine Lashkar-e-Toiba comrades who were killed in shootouts during the 60-hour siege of Mumbai. “Lekin ab bhi mujhe jannat mil jayegi” (But I will still go to heaven now).

These and other details about the working of the mind of India’s most high-profile prisoner were revealed to The Sunday Express by top security sources with access to information about Kasab’s life in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail, days before the start of the trial expected to grab international attention.

Kasab was shifted to the high-security jail in the heart of south-central Mumbai on February 17 from a lock-up in Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch and he has since never shown any sense of repentance or remorse for his actions — the killing of 55 people at the CST station and the gunning down of top cops Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar, among others — executed along with his fellow attacker Abu Ismail.

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