JOIN USAjmal Kasab, sentenced to death in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case, has sought mercy from the President of India, after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.
Talking to Deccan Herald, Special Inspector General of Police (Prisons-Mumbai) Vinod Lokhande said: “The convict handed over his petition to the jailer, who in turn handed it over to our office.
The copy is now with the State Home Department, which will forward it to the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi for despatching it to the President of India.”
Sources disclosed that the 25-year-old gunman, who had spewed death on the streets of Mumbai along with his cohorts, stated in the mercy petition that he was “brain-washed by his trainers and did not realise the gravity of his act and in view of this, the sentence should be brought down from death penalty.
”The Supreme Court, while upholding Kasab’s death sentence on August 29, stated that he had not shown “the slightest twinge of conscience.
”Three days ago, Arthur Road Jail officials handed Kasab, lodged in a high-security cell at present, was handed over a certified copy of the death sentence.
He was simultaneously apprised of options available to him, including that of the mercy petition. Though it is still not known whether Kasab has consulted his lawyer regarding the mercy petition, Lokhande said: “According to the procedure, he handed over a letter enclosed in an envelope. It is a common practice and as per procedure the letter would be sent duly to Home Ministry in Delhi.”