26/11 case: Court begins delivering verdict

Mumbai, May 3 (ANI): A Mumbai Special Court Judge M L Tahiliyani started delivering the verdict of the trial of lone surviving terrorist of the 26/11 terror attacks, Ajmal Amir Kasab, here on Monday.

The verdict is expected to come out in full some time from now.

The trial was focused around Kasab, and two Indian co-accused-Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed.

The trial, perhaps the fastest in a terror case in India, had commenced on May 8, 2009 in a special court set up at the Arthur Road Jail.

Judge Tahaliyani recorded 3,192 pages of evidence after examining 658 witnesses on 271 working days.

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

The prosecution led by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, had submitted 1,015 articles seized during investigations.

Nikam had also filed 1,691 documents to support the case.

The witnesses included many survivors of the terror attacks, eyewitnesses, family members of the victims, police officials, several foreign nationals, Indian security officials.

For the first time in the Indian history, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials deposed before the court and gave technical evidence.

The FBI informed the court about the technical data it gathered --that how Kasab and others came from Pakistan using Global Positioning System (GPS) and that they made calls from their mobile phones through Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) to stay in touch with their handlers across the border. (ANI)