In his book “Let Me Say It Now”, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria has claimed that he took Mohammed Ajmal Kasab to the Metro Junction in Mumbai, where he had opened fire indiscriminately on innocent civilians during the 26/11 terror attacks, and made him say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, reports Indian Express.

Maria's book was released on Monday (17 February) in which he wrote, “The convoy came to the Metro Junction, the stretch around which the monster had unleashed death just a few days ago, killing my dear colleagues and innocent fellow citizens… ‘Bend down and touch the ground with your forehead’, I ordered Kasab. Spooked, he meekly followed my instructions. Now, say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, I commanded. ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, said Kasab. Not satisfied with just once, I made him repeat it twice.”

He also added that Kasab was made to believe since childhood that Muslims were not allowed to offer prayer in mosques and that all mosques were shut in India.

“He felt that the azaan he heard five times a day in the crime branch lock up was just a figment of his imagination. When we came to know of this, I instructed Mahale (senior inspector Ramesh Mahale) to take him to the mosque near the Metro Cinema in a vehicle. When he saw namaaz being offered with his own eyes, he was bewildered,” Maria wrote as mentioned in the report.

As per Maria, if everything went according to plan, Kasab would have died as Chaudhari and the media would have blamed “Hindu terrorists” for the attack. The terror organisation had also reportedly planted fake ID cards with Indian addresses for the terrorists.

He claims in the book that both the ISI and LeT were striving to eliminate Kasab in the jail as he was the key evidence linking them with the attack. Maria adds that Dawood’s gang was tasked with eliminating Kasab.

Rakesh Maria

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