Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving 26/11 gunman, was today convicted by a special court here for the audacious Mumbai attacks that had left 166 people dead.
Over 17 months after he and nine other perpetrators unleashed death and devastation on the financial nerve centre of the country, special anti-terror court judge M L Tahaliyani convicted Kasab for the carnage.
Kasab, who hails from Faridkot in Pakistan, now faces the prospect of death penalty.
Two alleged Indian conspirators -- Sabauddin Ahmed and Faheem Ansari -- who were claimed to have prepared the maps of the terror targets and handed those over to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba for execution of their plans, were acquitted of all charges as the court said the evidence produced by the prosecution could not be relied upon.
The court also held that 20 of the wanted accused, including LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, operations chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Abu Hamza, were involved in 26/11 conspiracy.
The court will hear tomorrow arguments by the defence and prosecution on the quantum of sentence for 22-year-old Kasab, who was captured alive from the Girgaum-Chowpatty police barricade following an encounter after he and his accomplice Abu Ismael had killed several people at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, in and outside Cama Hospital and Metro Junction.
Pronouncing the verdict, judge Tahaliyani told Kasab in Hindi that the charge against him for waging war against India was found to be true.
While holding the terrorist personally accountable for killing innocent people at CST and Cama Hospital, the court also pronounced Kasab guilty of abetting murder at other scenes of the attacks where his accomplices perpetrated mass killing.
Kasab was held guilty under provisions of Arms Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Explosives Act, Railway Act and other laws, but smaller charges like forgery were dropped.
All the ten terrorists were found to be carrying fake identity cards, but the judge said it was not proved beyond reasonable doubt that Kasab had himself forged the document.
Kasab was represented by three lawyers. The first, Anjali Waghmare was removed on technical grounds even before the trial began as the court learnt that she had also appeared for a witness in the same case. Abbas Kazmi, who replaced her, was removed mid-way for not cooperating with the court.