Plot hatched abroad to kill Kasab: Maharashtra home minister
15 Apr 2009, 1817 hrs IST, IANS
LONDON: Maharashtra home minister Jayant Patil says intelligence information indicates a plot was hatched "from abroad" to kill 26/11 terror
suspect Ajmal Amir Kasab.
He told The Times in comments quoted on Wednesday that the alleged plot was the reason additional security measures, such as a bomb-proof corridor, were built in the special courtroom where Kasab is being tried.
The paper also quoted Rakesh Maria, the police officer in charge of the 26/11 probe, as saying police had uncovered a plan, originating in Pakistan, to silence Kasab.
But Maria said Kasab, an alleged member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group, knows a limited amount. "We have a limb, not the brain of the organisation behind the attack," he told The Times.
The paper said Kasab's trial was nevertheless set to attract global attention.
Christine Fair, a senior political scientist at the US thinktank RAND Corporation, said: "He is the first LeT operative (caught during) an unquestionable terrorist outrage who is absolutely Pakistani. That he was caught alive - a weird thing for an LeT operative - puts Pakistan in a very difficult place."
LONDON: Maharashtra home minister Jayant Patil says intelligence information indicates a plot was hatched "from abroad" to kill 26/11 terror
suspect Ajmal Amir Kasab.
He told The Times in comments quoted on Wednesday that the alleged plot was the reason additional security measures, such as a bomb-proof corridor, were built in the special courtroom where Kasab is being tried.
The paper also quoted Rakesh Maria, the police officer in charge of the 26/11 probe, as saying police had uncovered a plan, originating in Pakistan, to silence Kasab.
But Maria said Kasab, an alleged member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group, knows a limited amount. "We have a limb, not the brain of the organisation behind the attack," he told The Times.
The paper said Kasab's trial was nevertheless set to attract global attention.
Christine Fair, a senior political scientist at the US thinktank RAND Corporation, said: "He is the first LeT operative (caught during) an unquestionable terrorist outrage who is absolutely Pakistani. That he was caught alive - a weird thing for an LeT operative - puts Pakistan in a very difficult place."
Comments