New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria, who overheaded the investigation in the Mumbai serial blasts case and later cracked it, has made a stunning revelation in the case saying that if Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had succeeded in their plan, then the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks accused Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab would have died as Bengaluru resident Samir Dinesh Chaudhari with a 'red thread tied around his wrist', according to a News18 report.
The report quotes Maria saying in his book, titled ‘Let Me Say It Now’, that the Lashkar wanted to project the dastardly attack as a case of “Hindu terrorism”.
“There would have been screaming headlines on newspapers claiming how Hindu terrorists had attacked Mumbai. Over the top TV journalists would have made a beeline for Bengaluru to interview his family and neighbours. But alas, it had not worked that way and here he was, Ajmal Amir Kasab of Faridkot in Pakistan,” he said in his book.
Kasab's image, which was then caught in the CCTV camera of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station, which went under attack by the 10 Lashkar militants then, also suggests Lashkar's plan as the slain terrorist can be seen wearing a red ribbon (considered holy in Hindu religion).
Furthering making another stunning disclosure, Maria says that Kasab had initially joined Lashkar for committing robberies and had “nothing to go with jihad”.
"He and his friend Muzaffar Lal Khan wanted to commit robberies to improve their financial status and wanted to get hold of some weapons and training to achieve their nefarious objective," News18 quotes Maria as saying in the book.
"Kasab seriously believed that Muslims were not allowed to offer namaaz in India, and mosques were locked up by the authorities. He felt that the azaan he heard five times a day in the crime branch lockup was just a figment of his imagination. When we came to know of this, I instructed Mahale (investigating officer Ramesh Mahale) to take him to the mosque near the metro cinema in a vehicle," he adds.
Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was hanged at Yerawada jail in Pune on November 21, 2012 after the then-president Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy petition.