The trial of Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab and two Indians in the 26/11 terror attack case has entered a crucial phase with the prosecution and defence lawyers gearing up to submit arguments on February 20.
The court would assemble this weekend, nearly a month after it concluded recording of evidence.
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and Kasab's lawyer K P Pawar said they were ready to put forth their arguments. So also, the lawyer of co-accused Sabauddin Ahmed, Ejaz Naqvi, is all set to argue the case of his client.
However, the sudden killing of advocate Shahid Azmi, who represented co-accused Faheem Ansari, is likely to defer the arguments as Ansari would have to engage another lawyer who will have to go through the entire evidence which is time consuming.
Azmi was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in his suburban Kurla office last week.
Kasab's line of argument would be probably based on the statement made by him in the court that "he is not a terrorist and had not participated in 26/11 terror attacks".
Kasab has already disputed the still photographs and CCTV footages which were placed in the court as evidence showing him in terror acts.
He has told the court that the person shown in the photographs and footages was not him but someone else with a similar face.
The prosecution is relying heavily on the evidence adduced in the court against Kasab and two others and claims that it is incriminating against them.
According to prosecution, the ballistic reports have indicated that the bullets found from bodies of victims had been fired from Kasab's gun.
They have also submitted an expert opinion which says that Global Positioning System (GPS) instruments used by terrorists had indicated that they had come from Pakistan.
Another incriminating evidence against the accused is a report which matches the DNA samples of Kasab and slain terrorists with the articles found from fishing boat "Kuber".
It is the prosecution's case that Kasab and nine others had come from Pakistan by a boat and they had hijacked Kuber in mid-sea in which they landed on the shores of Mumbai.
Kasab is facing the charge of killing 166 persons in the attack on 26th November 2008 while Ansari and Ahmed are charged with drawing maps of terror targets and forwarding them to Lashkar-e-taiba to execute the attacks.
