Words of 26/11 terrorists still ringing in my ears: Witness

Mumbai, Sep 11 (PTI) A staff of hotel Taj, who was
taken hostage by the terrorists during the 26/11 attacks here
in India's financial capital, Friday told the court that he
heard one of the attackers telling his companions to throw
grenade and set the hotel on fire.

"'Throw grenades and set the hotel on fire....', these
words uttered by a terrorist on the night of November 26 last
during terror attacks at hotel Taj are still ringing in my
ears," Adil Irani, a steward with the hotel, told the court.

31-year-old Adil, who was taken hostage for about four
hours by four suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives, said
the attackers were very abusive and had assaulted some
hostages very badly.

Adil said the terrorist was telling his companions
that they must throw hand grenades and torch the hotel at
once. "This frightened me but I kept quiet", he told Special
Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

Thursday, a banker had described in the court how he
was taken hostage and the way he escaped.

The witness told Judge M L Tahaliyani that a terrorist
was talking to somebody on mobile phone and told the person on
the other side "Panch murge pakde hain, ek bada murga hai (we
have captured five people, one of them is a big man)".

"My mobile which terrorists had kept with them, rang
and my wife inquired about me. The terrorist who picked up the
cell phone got furious and told her that 'Operation hatao
nahin to Tabahi macha denge' (stop the Operation or else we
would create havoc)," he said.

The terrorist was telling Adil's wife to stop the
Operation of the Commandoes who were firing at them.

Adil said he was serving in a restaurant at hotel Taj
on November 26 night when he heard gunshots. He was frightened
and took a lift to the sixth floor.

The witness said he met his colleague Swapnil in room
number 639 and they locked it from inside. At 1.15 am, someone
knocked at the door twice but they did not open.

Suddenly the door broke open and two armed persons
entered the room. One with a grey shirt was limping, while the
other tall person with a golden shirt was holding a gun.

"We were hiding behind a table. They asked us to come
out and took us to a passage outside the room where we were
made to lie down on the ground with other hostages. Two more
terrorists joined them thereafter," Adil told prosecutor
Nikam.

Adil said the terrorists asked him about his religion
and when he told them that he was a Muslim, they said, "Ghanta
Musalman hai, Jehad ke naam par kalank hai. Gaddar Musalman
hai" (what Muslim are you, a blot on Jehad. You are a Muslim
traitor). When Adil told them he was a steward, they said,
"chal Allah ko kurban ho ja" (come on, now get ready to
sacrifice your life to Allah).

The witness said some more hostages were brought to
the same place and they were shifted to room number 632.
"After sometime the terrorists left us saying, 'Inko chod do,
apni jaan bachao' (leave them, let us save our lives)," he
said, adding that he escaped from a window and was rescued by
fire brigade. PTI SVS
PMR