Uphold Kasab sentence, Maharashtra requests Prez

The Maharashtra Home Ministry has put up a request note to President Pranab Mukherjee to uphold the death sentence of the lone surviving 26/11 Mumbai terror attack gunman Ajmal Kasab who has moved a mercy petition.

Home department sources said the mercy petition moved by Kasab came to the state home department last week and Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil as per the protocol attached his suggestion before despatching it to the  Chief Minister’s Office.

The petition is before the Maharashtra chief minister who in turn may put up his suggestion before forwarding to the governor who in turn will despatch it to the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi for further perusal.

The convict, who along with his cohorts had spewed death on the streets, terminus station and hotels in his ‘mercy petition,’ stated that “he was brain-washed by his trainers and (he) did not realise the gravity of his act as he carried out his act in a state of haze; in view of this, the sentence should be brought down from death penalty”.

The Supreme Court on August 29, upholding the conviction and death sentence in 26/11 attacks, stated that Kasab had now shown “the slightest twinge of conscience”.

On September 15, Arthur Road Jail officials handed Kasab (lodged in a high-security cell) a certified copy of death sentence conformation; the 25-year-old gunman while being handed over the copy as per the procedure was also informed about the options including that of mercy petition.

However, till date, it is not known as to whether Kasab had already consulted his lawyer with regard to mercy petition option.