The 12 men who nailed Kasab

 Within hours of Mumbai Police catching Kasab at Girgaum chowpatty, the mammoth task of putting together evidence against the perpetrators began.

One policeman each was assigned the task of probing the 12 attacks.
The 12 cases were later clubbed into one. Working away diligently in the police backrooms, painstakingly putting the evidence together, they got the name: Team Kasab.

The officers met in a room, for the first time on November 27, 2008. “Each and every member came here every morning at about 8:15 am and left for home at about 2 am in the morning,” says Ramesh Mahale, Senior Inspector.

Mahale is an encyclopedia of the 26/11 terror attacks case. During the trial, TV cameras at the court would have caught Ramesh Mahale in the background. Hardly anyone knows that he is the man who put together the 11,000-page charge sheet.
“The charge sheet we submitted on February 25, 2010 runs into 11,350 pages. Thereafter, we have submitted a supplementary charge sheet of 1,000 pages. We examined 653 witnesses in all, by way of direct deposition or by way of affidavits. I know each and every paper of this case,” said Mahale.

Police Inspector Vaibhav Dhumal was entrusted the job to prove it was Kasab who planted the taxi bomb that blew up in suburban Vile Parle.

“Kasab had planted a bomb in the cab he took from Badhwar Park. There was an advocate who had missed his train and boarded that very taxi from CST. We established from the cell phone records of the doctor that he was at CST at the same time Kasab reached there and took the cab Kasab left,” said Dhumal.
Senior Inspector Arun Chavan was assigned the task of gathering technical evidence.

“We had to work 18 to 24 hours a day. It was a laborious job. It was a technical job. The seniors also constantly kept a watch the we don’t deviate from the line of investigation. The whole team worked as one force,” said Chavan.  
“It helped complete the chain. We were able to bridge the evidence gap: Where did they come from, where were the handlers.”
While their efforts bore fruits in the conviction of Kasab, the special court stunned them by acquitting two Indian nationals Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed of all charges.

The judge, in fact, point by point, demolished the investigation against Fahim and Sabahuddin, putting a question mark on the probe.
DH News Service