Lahore: Prosecution in Mumbai 26/11 attack case faced embarrassment when a key witness turned hostile and said that Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman caught alive after the assault and later hanged, was alive.
Mudassir Lakhvi, the headmaster of a primary school in Faridkot, where Ajmal Kasab studied for three years told the court that his student was alive.
Even as Pakistan assured India of “steps being taken to expedite the early conclusion” of the Mumbai attack trial, the hearing of the case was held by the Anti-Terrorism Court Islamabad judge at Adiala Jail Rawalpindi on Wednesday.
The claim of the Headmaster, who was supposed to present the record of the period during which Kasab studied in the school, turned hostile. Meanwhile, the prosecution too failed to examine him efficiently.
The prosecution felt that since the headmaster hails from Zakir Rehman Lakhvi’s village, who is an accused as well, he must have deposed under pressure.
It may be recalled that head master had made the same claim in 2014 as well and then the prosecution moved an application to examine him again on the ground that the witness turned ‘hostile’.
He was summoned on Wednesday but he stuck to his last statement. The headmaster made no reference to Kasab (hanged in India) and did not mention if he (Kasab) was the same person who studied in the school in Faridkot.
The witness earlier had also claimed that Kasab could be produced in court if needed. The next hearing in the case would be held on December 16.
