Indian police on Wednesday filed charges against the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai terrorist attack of November, paving the way for a trial. Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam filed the charge sheet to the court of a metropolitan magistrate in Mumbai, the IANS news agency reported. Ajmal Amir Kasab was charged with "murder and waging war" against India.
Thirty-five others - including Fahim Ansari and Salauddin Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba - have been named in a mammoth charge sheet running more than 11,000 pages, the report said. The charge sheet marks the end of the first stage of police investigations into the terrorist attack in which 10 gunmen attacked sites in India's financial capital and held hostages for three days.
More than 170 people were killed in the attack, which India said was plotted by elements in neighbouring Pakistan and launched from its territory. Kasab was the only accused gunman caught during the attack. The other nine were killed, according to police. The formal filing of charges paves the way for his trial where he could face the death penalty if found guilty.
Kasab, who was arrested November 28, has been kept under heavy security cover in a Mumbai jail. He was given a copy of the charge sheet. "The trial will be conducted in the Z-security special court to be presided over by special judge ML Tahilyani inside the Arthur Road Jail precincts," Nikam was quoted as saying by IANS.
"Special security arrangements are being made there. We are making efforts to complete the trial within the next three to six months," he added. Under Indian law, charges have to be filed in a court within 90 days of a person's detention. The next hearing has been scheduled for March 19. The metropolitan magistrate was expected to shift the case to the special court after the charges are filed, Nikam said.
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