Mumbai: In a latest revelation, former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria has said that if the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) Mumbai attack plan had succeeded then 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab was to die as Samir Dinesh Chaudhari, a resident of Bengaluru, donning a ‘red thread tied around his wrist’.
This was to portray the attack as a case of ‘Hindu terrorism’, claims Maria in his book ‘Let Me Say It Now’.
“There would have been screaming headlines on newspapers claiming how Hindu terrorists had attacked Mumbai. Over the top TV journalists would have made a beeline for Bengaluru to interview his family and neighbours. But alas, it had not worked that way and here he was, Ajmal Amir Kasab of Faridkot in Pakistan,” news18 quotes Maria.
Many pictures of Kasab show him wearing a red thread around his right arm, which establishes the claim made by Maria in his book.
The top cop claims that Kasab’s initial idea behind joining Lashkar was to commit petty robberies to improve his financial condition. Jihad was not on his mind.
Maria says that Kasab, who believed that Muslims were not allowed to offer namaaz in India, and mosques were locked up by the authorities was rather shocked to see Namaz being held in Mumbai.
When the police came to know about his mindset and also his firm belief that the five azaan he heard in the crime branch lockup was only his imagination, Maria had asked the police to take him to the mosque near the metro cinema in a vehicle.
The book also notes that after three rounds of training, Kasab was given Rs 1,25,000 and a week-long family visit holiday. “He gave the money to his family for his sister’s wedding,” wrote Maria.
According to him, originally, terror attack on Mumbai was planned on September 27, 2008, the 27th day of roza.
