Ajmal Kasab’s diary reaches SC

NEW DELHI: A diary which sailed with Ajmal Kasab and nine other terrorists from Karachi and provided them with crucial sea coordinates to reach Mumbai on November 26, 2008 along with locations to attack ended its eventful journey on Thursday when it landed on the table of two Supreme Court judges, who will take the final call on award of death sentence to the lone surviving gunman.

The diary — a flip-up , ruled note book filled up by the gang leader — listed a 24-hour roster for guard duty during the threeday sea journey and stocks of ration and ammunition. It also contained the locations for attack — Colaba, Cuffe Parade, Machimar Nagar, Rajabhai Tower, Regal Chowk, Nathabhai Marg, Nariman Point, WTC and Regal Cinema.

When senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam and public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam handed over the original diary, a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Chandramauli Kumar Prasad went through it keenly. Justice Alam’s knowledge of Urdu, the language used to make entries in the diary, came handy as he could point out minor discrepancies in the Hindi translation of the contents.

Subramaniam said Kasab’s counsel in the trial court had admitted to the translation of the diary’s contents except for the word “mujahid” , which had been encircled in red. He said the entries in the diary established that Kasab was part of the gang that had clear instructions to launch attacks on crowded places in Mumbai and kill as many people as possible to strike terror among Indians.

The diary contains code words to be used by the terrorists while communicating through satellite phones with their masters in Pakistan without arousing suspicion even when the conversation was intercepted by intelligence agencies . If the situation is alright (halat theek hai), it was to be referred to as fishes are plenty (machhli lag rahi hai); for ‘civilian boat’ , the code was ‘bhai log’ ; for ‘naval boat’ it was ‘yar log’ ; ‘naval ship’ was ‘yar logon ka group’ , engine was machine, and journey was ice (burf).

The diary entries showed that the terrorist group had local contact numbers, local satellite phone numbers, photocopy of maps, SIM cards for satellite phones, two pistols, mineral water bottles, 10 kg of good quality khajur, spare phone charger, GPS devices and satellite phones apart from explosives and ration. The satellite phones were seized from merchant vessel Kuber, which was hijacked by terrorists on the Arabian Sea on November 23, 2008 and used to reach Mumbai.