Mulled flying Kasab to Pune, but found road way safest: Police

PUNE: Escorting of Mumbai terror attack convict Mohammed Ajmal Kasab to the city by air was mulled but later it had been shelved as road transport was considered as the safest mode to shift him to the Central jail here, a senior police official said today.

Select policemen from Maharashtra ATS, Mumbai police and Director General of Police office had been informed by the state government about the shifting of Kasab to Yerawada jail in Pune ten days ago but the reason for the move was not immediately revealed, the official of the Mumbai police said.

"While preparing plan for shifting Kasab, a thought was given if the terrorist should be flown to Pune? But later, the police and the government dropped the plan and decided that it is good to take a road transport as it takes only three to four hours to reach Pune and it is the safest mode," the official said.

The special team consisted of men from Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Force One and Quick Response Teams who escorted Kasab to the jail on intervening night of Sunday and Monday, he added.

Nearly four years after the Mumbai terror attack, Pakistani gunman Kasab was today hanged to death at Yerawada central prison here at 7.30 AM in an operation shrouded in secrecy.

Ten terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba ( LeT) had come to Mumbai and carried out terror attacks in which 166 people were killed. Nine of them were killed during the 60-hour siege which began on the night of November 26, 2008. Kasab was however caught alive.