'Ajmal Kasab begged for mercy before execution'

PUNE: ‘Allah qasam maaf karna, aisi galthi dobara nahi hogi’ (I swear by Allah, please forgive me, such a mistake won’t be repeated) were the last words uttered by terrorist Ajmal Kasab when he was being taken to the gallows at the Yerawada central prison here at 7.30 am on Wednesday. Sources said Kasab was speaking incoherently for a while until the lever was pulled.

The sources said the entire procedure was well-planned but carried out secretly. Barring some top officials, none of those present in the jail to supervise the hanging knew why they had been called early in the morning. Even the jail staff was unaware of the developments.

“Neither the city police commissioner nor officers of the Pune anti-terrorism squad (ATS) knew about the developments. Since the prison falls in their jurisdiction, officials at the Yerawada police station were called to the jail premises around 8 am and told that Kasab had been hanged,” the sources said.

Kasab was hanged in the presence of a doctor, a medical team and officials from the prison department and district administration. “There was no resistance from Kasab when he was brought to the gallows,” the sources said.

The lone surviving terrorist of the 26/11 Mumbai attack was brought to a separate cell located near the gallows on Tuesday night. He remained there till early morning after which he was medically examined. A source who was present during the medical examination said Kasab cooperated with the doctor and the other medical staff. “Soon after the examination, he was taken to the gallows with a black cloth covering his head. After the execution, the body was kept hanging for some time following which he was declared dead by the authorities concerned,” the sources said.

A source, who was one of the few to supervise the hanging, said even he was not aware of the plan. “I was called by my top bosses on Tuesday evening and given a written order to report at the Yerawada jail at 5 am on Wednesday. I was told to go home early. After reaching the jail on Wednesday, I was taken inside the premises,” he said.

The source said he sensed that something related to Kasab was happening and thought that the terrorist may have been brought to the Pune jail. However, he realized that Kasab was going to be hanged only around 6.30 am when the higher authorities in the jail told him about it.

'Ajmal Kasab begged for mercy before execution'