A Puppet’s Life Ends On A String

In A Top-Secret Operation Executed With Surgical Precision, LeT Terrorist Ajmal Kasab Is Hanged At Pune’s Yerawada Jail At 7.30am Wednesday After Being Moved From Mumbai’s Arthur Rd Jail In The Dead Of Night Unclaimed Body Buried In A Pit Inside Prison

C Unnikrishnan, Prafulla Marpakwar & Sarang Dastane TNN

Mumbai: Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab exited this world as stealthily as he had entered Mumbai four years ago. The lone surviving gunman of 26/11 was hanged to death in Pune’s Yerawada jail at 7.30am on Wednesday in an extremely hush-hush operation, codenamed ‘X’. (TOI was the only paper to report, in its November 21 edition, that Kasab had been secretly moved to Yerawada).
    Asked for his last wish, the 25-year-old terrorist from Faridkot village in Pakistan’s Punjab province said: “Gharwalon ko milna hai (I want to meet my family members).” He
was told the Pakistan government had been informed about his hanging but had failed to respond. As his hands and legs were tied, his last words, according to officials who witnessed the hanging, were: “Allah kasam maaf karna. Aisi galati dobara nahi hogi…(Allah, please forgive me, this mistake won’t happen again).”
    Sources said Kasab was babbling incoherently before the hangman pulled the lever at Yerawada, about 150km from Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, his home for four years. His body was buried in a pit in the prison premises as there were no claimants. He was convicted in May 2010 by a special judge for murdering seven people directly with his AK-47 and 65 others in common intent with fellow terrorist Ismail. He was also found guilty of being part of a Lashkar-e-Taiba conspiracy that led to 166 deaths. The Mumbai high court in February 2011 and the Supreme Court in August this year upheld the sentence.
    How Kasab came to be hanged as most of India slept is as dramatic a tale as the unfortunate cycle of terror he and his nine fellow terrorists unleashed across Mumbai landmarks on November 26, 2008.
    On November 7, two days after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected Kasab’s clemency petition, Shinde, home secretary R K Singh and sleuths from the Intelligence Bureau drafted ‘Operation X’ to execute him. “It was a top-secret operation. Only a few bureaucrats and high-ranking IPS officers were involved,’’ Shinde told TOI.
    The next day, Shinde sent the file to the Maharashtra government and advised the state home department to hang Kasab on November 21. Incidentally, R R Patil, the state home minister, went on record on Wednesday to say that Kasab’s ‘death warrant’ had been drawn up in consultation with the additional sessions judge two months earlier, on September 11, after the Supreme Court upheld his death penalty.
    Next came the task of preparing Kasab for the gallows. Mumbai police commissioner Satya Pal Singh, joint commissioners Himanshu Roy, Sadanand Date and inspector general of prisons Vinod Lokhande were handpicked to execute the plan. “All along, we were told that the world should learn about Kasab’s hanging only after the execution,’’ a top IPS officer said.
    The state at one point toyed with the idea of air-lifting Kasab to the Pune prison. But a senior cabinet minister said that the plan was nixed in view of the permissions required for carrying arms on a plane. Finally, it was decided to shift Kasab in a car. Even PM, Sonia didn’t know, claims Shinde
    Ajmal Kasab’s execution was kept such a closely guarded secret that neither Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nor Congress president Sonia Gandhi was told about it, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Wednesday. “My cabinet colleagues got to know from television this morning,” Shinde said. “The UPA president was not part of the decision. This is the department’s work, my routine work. It is my nature to keep work a secret, I have a police background,” he added. Shinde was a policeman before joining politics. P 5 ALLAH KASAM MAAF KARNA. AISI GALATI DOBARA NAHI HOGI
    THE LAST DAYS Oct 16 | Union home ministry recommends rejection of Kasab’s mercy plea to President
Nov 5 | Pranab Mukherjee rejects petition for clemency
Nov 6 | President’s rejection is conveyed to Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde
Nov 7 | Shinde approves execution and sends file to Maharashtra govt
Nov 8 | Maharashtra govt receives file with advice to execute Kasab on Nov 21 Nov 12 | Prison officials inform Kasab about the rejection of mercy plea
Nov 13 | Additional sessions judge issues death warrant
Nov 17 | Arthur Road jail officials inform Kasab about hanging on Nov 21 Nov 20 | Indian high commission informs Pakistan about decision
    THE LAST HOURS Nov 20 | At 1.38am, in a six-stage operation, each with a separate code name, a convoy of six vehicles headed by investigating officer Ramesh Mahale carrying around 20 commandos, prison officials and paramilitary personnel quietly slips out of Arthur Road jail with Kasab. Many unaware that the “parcel” they’re taking is Kasab
    First jeep serves as pilot vehicle, followed by vehicle carrying Kasab. Four other vehicles follow. Convoy takes Mumbai-Pune expressway
4.34am | Convoy reaches Pune’s Yerawada jail. Kasab lodged in high security Anda cell till Tuesday evening. Then shifted to a special cell where convicts who are to be hanged are kept. Is served regular jail food for dinner and seems to be unperturbed, “cool and singing songs at night”
Nov 21, 4am | Kasab woken up; prays, reads Quran and is given a rosary
by jail officials. Jail doctors examine him, declare him “medically fit to be hanged”. Weight: 52.5kg, BP: 120/80
    Warden asks for his last wish. Says: “Gharwalon ko milna hai”. Is told Pak govt’s been informed about his hanging but has failed to respond. To any other wish, he says no
7.20am | Brought to gallows in normal jail attire for convicts. As his hands and legs are tied, he utters his last words: “Allah kasam maaf karna. Aisi galati dobara nahi hogi…” His head is covered with a black cloth and the noose placed around his neck
7.30am | In presence of a special magistrate, a dist admin official, a medical team and jail officials, he is
hanged by one of the Yerawada jail staff, trained by last hangman Arjun Jadhav before he retired in 1996
    Kept hanging and at 7.45am, doctor examines body, pronounces Kasab dead. Death certificate issued and jail superintendent signs certificate stating the convict has been hanged
    Jail officials inform Maharashtra home minister R R Patil. At 7.47am, Patil calls up Shinde and CM Chavan
    Body buried at 9.30am in an open space near Fasi gate (gallows) on the jail premises. Six pits kept ready to ensure his grave remains a secret Some escorts didn’t know Kasab’s identity
    DGP Sanjeev Dayal called a handful of officers and told them that they had less than 10 days to transfer Kasab from the Arthur Road jail for undertrials to the Yerawada prison for convicts.
    The operation should be airtight, he stressed. “Such secrecy was needed because we were anticipating international pressure to reconsider the death penalty,’’ said a top government official.
    The team handpicked the officials, comprising mostly commandos from the antiterrorist Force One, to escort Kasab out of the city. “Only a few of them were briefed about the prisoner’s identity. Most of the commandos and members of the para-military units were clueless till Wednesday morning that they had accompanied Kasab,’’ another source said.
    The team then got cracking on the six-stage plan involving a posse of vehicles and a troop of commandos.
    The first began with Kasab leaving Arthur Road jail at 1.38am on Tuesday and the last ended at 4.34am the same morning, when he entered Yerawada.
    Each stage had a different code name and the bosses were briefed about the success of the operation at the end of every leg.
    “We basically ensured that there were no traffic blocks on the road and no attack on him,’’ an official added.
    Investigating of ficer Ramesh Mahale accompanied Kasab as he was the only face familiar to the terrorist. In Pune, too, arrangements were made with the local police to ensure that the convoy reached the jail without any hitch.
    “It was early morning, so everything went smoothly,’’ a source said. Senior officers monitoring the operation went to sleep only after they received information that Kasab had reached Yerawada jail safely.
    While the drama was unfolding, a huge posse of policemen continued guarding Arthur Road’s prized prisoner without realizing that he had left hours ago.

This is one of the photographs shot by fearless TOI Group photographers Sebastian D’Souza, Shriram Vernekar and Santosh Bane at CST on 26/11 that the courts depended on heavily to establish Kasab’s guilt