Kasab questions permission to NIA to quiz him
By IANSMonday, November 15, 2010
MUMBAI - Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the sole survivor out of the 10 Pakistani gunmen in the 26/11 attack, Monday filed an application witghn e Bombay High Court seeking to know how had the Maharashtra government given permission to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to interrogate him.
The application was filed Monday - the first day after the hearing on the confirmation of Kasab’s death sentence resumed after Diwali - on the basis of report in a Mumbai newspaper two days ago.
In his application, Kasab contended that the news report mentioned that an independent case had been filed by the NIA against him and the agency sought permission to interrogate him. The permission was subsequently granted.
Kasab claimed that these developments meant that the investigations into the Nov 26-29, 2008, Mumbai terror attack, in which he was convicted and sentenced to death were either “incomplete” or that a fresh investigation was on the anvil.
This, he said in the application, would amount to double jeopardy and also directly interfere in the confirmation case pending before the Bombay High Court, according to Kasabs government-appointed lawyer Amin Solkar.
In the application, Solkar has demanded to know on behalf of Kasab whether the NIA was authorised to conduct the 26/11 probe and also file a charge sheet, whether the investigation of all the 12 cases pertaining to 26/11 was assigned to Mumbai Police Crime Branch or the NIA, and hence, whether the Crime Branchs probe and the subsequent trial was legal.
Kasab also questioned the legal provisions under which the state government permitted the NIA to interrogate him.
He sought to know whether his death sentence could be suspended when the confirmation of the sentence was pending and whether the NIA could register an independent case against him at this stage.
The court, while observing that it could not go by a newspaper report, directed the prosecution to file its reply by Nov 18 (Thursday) in the matter.
