Ajmal Kasab's lawyers seek time to study case

The lawyers of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only surviving terrorist of the November 26, 2008, terror attacks, on Monday sought time from the Bombay high court to file an appeal against a lower court’s order sentencing him to death.

A division bench of justices Ranjana Desai and RV More granted defence lawyers Amin Solkar and Farhana Shah time till September 20 to file the appeal and adjourned the case. The lawyers assured the bench that they would file the appeal before that date. Solkar appealed to the court that the case papers ran up to over 16,000 pages and they needed time to study the case before they filed the appeal.

Meanwhile, the lower court’s paper book, which is sent to the high court for confirmation of the death sentence, has already reached. The court will hear the matter along with Kasab’s appeal.

On May 3, Kasab was found guilty of killing 166 people along with nine other accomplices of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Mumbai on the night of November 26, 2008.

The prosecution has also filed its appeal against the acquittal of two co-accused people Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed. The court admitted the appeal and directed that warrants may be issued against the duo to compel their presence before a sessions court in Mumbai.

Both are currently lodged in separate jails in Uttar Pradesh in connection with an attack on a central reserve police force camp at Rampur on January 1, 2008 in which eight people were killed.