ITBP sends Rs 11 crore bill for Ajmal Kasab's security; Maharashtra says it is a national issue

MUMBAI: A staggering Rs 11 crore has been spent on guarding 26/11 terror convict Ajmal Kasab over 18 months and the security force protecting him wants it back.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police ( ITBP) force has slapped a bill of Rs 10.87 crore on Maharashtra Government for guarding Kasab at the Arthur Road jail and sought its reimbursement which has stunned the state.

R K Bhatia, Director General of ITBP, whose 200 commandos provide 24-hour security to Kasab, has raised the bill received for reimbursement of expenses incurred between March 28, 2009 and September 30,2010.

Medha Gadgil, Maharashtra's Principal Home Secretary, told PTI that the state government will be writing to the ITBP explaining their position that it was not just state government's burden.

"We are in the process of writing to them. We will explain that 26/11 terror attacks is not only an issue limited to Maharashtra but a national issue," she said.

"What Kasab and his associates did is an attack not only on Mumbai but an attack on India and it is unfair to ask the state government to bear the burden (for ITBP guarding Kasab)," another senior Home department official said.

The ITPB was deployed in the jail where a Special Court held conducted trial of Kasab, the lone Pakistani gunman who was arrested on the night of 26/11.