मुंबई
मुंबई हल्‍ल्‍या दरम्यान 166 लोकांच्‍या हत्‍येस जबाबदार असल्‍याच्‍या आरोपाखाली विशेष न्‍यायालयाने या हल्‍ल्‍यातील आरोपी अजमल अमीर कसाब यास दोषी ठरविले असून हल्‍ल्‍यास मदत केल्‍याचा आरोप असलेल्‍या फहीम अन्‍सारी व सबाउद्दीन यांना निर्दोष मुक्त केले आहे. न्‍यायालयाच्‍या 1522 पानांच्‍या निर्णयाचे वाचन सुरू करण्‍यात आले असून आता कसाबला काय शिक्षा दिली जाते याकडे लक्ष लागून आहे.

मुंबईवर झालेल्‍या 26 नोव्‍हेंबरच्‍या दहशतवादी हल्‍ल्‍या दरम्‍यान अटक करण्‍यात आलेल्‍या एकमेव जिवंत आरोपी कसाबवर देशा विरोधात युद्ध छेडणे, एटीएस प्रमुख हेमंत करकरे, अशोक कामटे व त्याला पकडणा-या हवालदार तुकाराम ओंबळे यांच्‍यासह 166 जणांना मारल्‍याच्‍या आरोपासह 86 आरोप सिद्ध झाले असून यासाठी त्‍याला फाशीची शिक्षा सुनावली जाण्‍याची शक्यता आहे.

विशेष न्‍यायालयाचे न्‍यायाधीश एम. एल. तहिलयानी यांनी याबाबत 1522 पानांच्‍या आपल्‍या निकालपत्राच्‍या वाचनास सुरूवात केली असून कसाबला मंगळवारी शिक्षा सुनावली जाणार आहे.

या हल्‍ल्‍यात कसाबला दोषी ठरविण्‍यात आले असले तरीही त्याला व त्याच्‍या साथीदारांना मुंबई शहरातील प्रमुख ठिकाणांचे नकाशे देणा-या आणि मुंबईत घर उपलब्‍ध करून देणा-या फहीम अंसारी आणि सबाउद्दीन यांना पुरेशा पुराव्‍यांअभावी मुक्त केले आहे. न्‍यायालयाने सुमारे अडीच तास वाचन केलेल्‍या 1522 पानांच्‍या निकाल पत्रात कसाबला 86 प्रकारच्‍या आरोपांमध्‍ये दोषी ठरविले आहे. याबाबत मंगळवारी कसाबला शिक्षा सुनावली जाणार आहे.

देशाच्‍या इतिहासातील सर्वांत वेगवान सुनावणी झालेल्‍या या खटल्‍याचे कामकाज 8 मे 2009 रोजी सुरू झाले होते. यासाठी ऑर्थर रोड जेलमध्‍ये खास न्‍यायालय बनविण्‍यात आले होते. 271 दिवस चाललेल्‍या कारवाई दरम्यान 658 जणांची साक्ष नोंदविण्‍यात आली होती. तर 3,192 पानांचे पुरावे सादर करण्‍यात आले होते.

दरम्‍यान, निकाल सुनावणी पूर्वी खटल्‍याचे कामकाज सुरू असलेल्‍या ऑर्थर रोड न्‍यायालयाबाहेर कडेकोट सुरक्षा व्‍यवस्‍था करण्‍यात आली आहे. तुरुंगाकडे जात असलेल्‍या साने गुरूजी मार्गावर अनेक ठिकाणी पोलीस चौक्या बनविण्‍यात आल्‍या असून या भागातील चार कि.मी परिसरात कमांडो गस्‍त सुरू होती.

पाकिस्तानच्‍या फरीदकोट येथील नागरिक असलेल्‍या कसाब आणि मारल्‍या गेलेल्‍या त्‍याच्‍या 9 साथीदारांनी लश्कर-ए-तैयबाच्‍या आदेशावरून 166 निर्दोष लोकांची हत्‍या केली होती तर त्यात 304 जणांना जखमी केले होते. मृतांमध्‍ये 25 विदेशी नागरिकांचाही समावेश आहे.

हाफीज सईद आणि लखवीही दोषी

हल्‍लेखोरांना पाकिस्‍तानातून सूचना देणा-या हाफिज सईद आणि लखवी यांच्‍यासह पाकमधील 20 जणांना या प्रकरणात न्‍यायालयाने दोषी ठरविले आहे. यापूर्वी कारवाई दरम्‍यान न्‍यायालयाने 27 जणांविरोधात अजामीन पात्र वॉरंट बजावले असून ते इंटरपोलकडे सोपविण्‍यात आले आहे. मात्र त्यांना अद्याप अटक करण्‍यात आलेली नाही.




Mumbai

Seventeen months after the audacious attack on Mumbai that left 166 dead and thousands scarred for life, the 26/11 Special Court on Monday pronounced the lone captured Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab guilty of waging war against India and manslaughter.

The court found Kasab, who hails from Faridkot in Pakistan, guilty on all 86 counts against him. He, along with nine slain terrorists, was charged with killing 166 people, including 25 foreigners, and injuring 304 others at the instance of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

He now faces the prospect of death penalty.

Kasab, who was present in the court, listened very attentively to the judge and appeared calm and unemotional.

The court also held that 20 of the wanted accused, including LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, operations chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Abu Hamza, were involved in 26/11 conspiracy.

The prosecution, led by Ujjwal Nikam, submitted 1,015 articles seized during investigations and filed 1,691 documents to support its case. The prosecution also sought to prove that Pakistan's security apparatus was used by LeT in the attacks.

Kasab had come to Mumbai via the Arabian Sea route with his associates and targeted sites like the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, Hotel Oberoi-Trident, the Cama Hospital and the Chabad, a Jewish prayer centre at Nariman House, and the favourite haunt of foreigners, Leopold Café.

The court will hear tomorrow arguments by the defence and prosecution on the quantum of sentence for 22-year-old Kasab, who was captured alive from the Girgaum-Chowpatty police barricade following an encounter after he and his accomplice Abu Ismael had killed several people at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, in and outside Cama Hospital and Metro Junction.

Alleged co-conspirators acquitted

However, the two Indian co-accused Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed who were charged for conspiracy in the terror attacks - preparing maps of the targeted locations and handing these to LeT operatives – were acquitted by the court as it felt that the evidence produced by the prosecution could not be relied upon.

Pronouncing the verdict, judge Tahaliyani told Kasab in Hindi that the charge against him for waging war against India was found to be true.

While holding the terrorist personally accountable for killing innocent people at CST and Cama Hospital, the court also pronounced Kasab guilty of abetting murder at other scenes of the attacks where his accomplices perpetrated mass killing.

Kasab was held guilty under provisions of Arms Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Explosives Act, Railway Act and other laws, but smaller charges like forgery were dropped.

All the ten terrorists were found to be carrying fake identity cards, but the judge said it was not proved beyond reasonable doubt that Kasab had himself forged the document.

The trial, perhaps the fastest in a terror case in India, had commenced on May 8 in a special court set up at Arthur Road Jail which recorded 3,192 pages of evidence after examining 658 witnesses on 271 working days.

Thirty witnesses had identified in court Kasab as the man who had opened fire at them.

Stating that 26/11 attack was not a simple act of murder, Tahaliyani said, "It was part of a larger conspiracy to wage war against the nation."

Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi found guilty

The judge observed that terrorists' handlers from Pakistan were directing them, asking them to "fight until death" and not allow themselves to be caught alive.

The court found that 20 of the 35 absconding accused named in the chargesheet, including Saeed and Lakhvi were involved in the conspiracy. The court had issued non-bailable warrants against 27 of them during the trial which were handed over to the Interpol, but none was arrested.

The acquittal of the two Indians -- Ansari and Ahmed -- came as a jolt for the prosecution.

The prosecution had claimed that Ansari had prepared maps of terror targets and handed it over to Sabauddin Ahmed in Nepal. Ahmed allegedly forwarded those to LeT.

To buttress its point, the prosecution had relied upon the evidence of one Nooruddin, who claimed he was present when Ansari handed over the maps to Sabauddin. One of the maps, according to prosecution, was found from the possession of Abu Ismael, Kasab's accomplice killed at Girgaum-Chowpatty area.