Confession of Kasab nailed him in 26/11 terror attack: Court

Mumbai, May 5 (PTI) The 26/11 court has accepted a
major portion of the confession given by convicted terrorist
Ajmal Kasab in which he talked about the involvement of
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayeba and the security apparatus of
the neighbouring country in the diabolic attacks.
"I have accepted most part of the confession and also
held that it was voluntarily given by Kasab and not given
under duress as claimed by him," Judge M L Tahaliyani said
while pronouncing the operative part of the verdict on Monday.
Magistrate Sawant Waghule had done her best to explain
to Kasab that his confession can go against him in the trial
and also gave him 72 hours to ponder over his move to confess
voluntarily, the judge noted.
"I have rejected Kasab's plea that his confession was
not voluntary and was given under police duress," the judge
said, adding he also dismissed the defence argument that a
policeman was present in the magistrate's chamber when the
accused was making a statement.
The mere presence of a policemen in the magistrate's
chamber would not suggest "police pressure" because it could
be that the magistrate would have ordered the cop to be there
because of security reasons, the judge said.
Moreover, Judge Tahaliyani said, the constable who was
present during the confession did not belong to the
investigating team and was part of the police staff who had
been deputed on duty in the court in the normal course. (MORE)
PTI