India to send more 26/11 evidence to Pakistan

Statements of key witnesses in the 26/11 case in an anti-terror court in Mumbai will be forwarded by India to Pakistan to be used as evidence in the trial there, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said in Mumbai on Sunday.

The court has allowed the prosecution's plea for certified copies of the statements and within a day or two they will be forwarded to Pakistan through diplomatic channels, Nikam told PTI.

The statement of witnesses includes the deposition of a magistrate before whom the lone captured Pakistani gunman Mohammad Ajmal Kasab had given a voluntary confession of his alleged involvement in the November 26 attacks in Mumbai.

Besides, the statements would also include deposition of foreign nationals and seizures of some articles recovered from terror sites such as Hotels Taj and Oberoi and Nariman House, Nikam said.

The magistrate's statement is considered significant as she told the trial court that Kasab had disclosed before her that the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan by Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives including alleged mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Laqvi, who is facing trial in a Pakistani court.

The statements would also cover deposition of Federal Bureau of Investigation officers who told the trial court that mobile phones recovered from terror sites were used (by terrorists) to communicate with their Pakistani handlers during the terror siege.

The officers of a mobile company from abroad had also deposed in the court in Mumbai through video-conference saying that the mobile phones (used by terrorists) were exported from Chine to Pakistan. Evidence about articles seized from terrorists such as 'rubber boat' and food items bearing labels 'Made in Pakistan' will also be forwarded to the neighbouring country to prove that the conspiracy was hatched from their soil and that terrorists had come to India from Pakistan, Nikam said.

Earlier also the government of India had sent evidence to Pakistan in this case, which included confession of Kasab and the voluminous chargesheet filed by the police in the court.

However, the Pakistan government had termed this as 'insufficient evidence' to nail Laqvi and six others who are facing trial there. With the magistrate certifying Kasab's confession as voluntary in an anti-terror court in Mumbai, this evidence has not only become strong against Kasab but also 'independent and credible,' Nikam said.

Nikam further said evidence of all these witnesses had cemented the claim of the prosecution that not only the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan but also the involvement of the founder of LeT Hafiz Saeed had been proved through magistrate's statement.