LeT planned to project 26 11 attack as ''Hindu terror'' Maria

    Mumbai, Feb 18 (PTI) Former Mumbai police commissioner
Rakesh Maria has claimed that the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had
planned to project the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack as a case of
"Hindu terror" and Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Kasab to
die as Bengaluru's Samir Chaudhari.
    In his memoir 'Let Me Say It Now' released on Monday,
Maria mentioned about the investigation helmed by him in the
26/11 Mumbai terror attack, which was planned by LeT and
Pakistan hand was also unearthed.
    According to excerpts from the book, (Pakistan's) ISI
and LeT were striving to eliminate Kasab in the jail as he was
the key evidence linking them with the attack and Dawood
Ibrahim's gang was tasked with eliminating him.
    While describing LeT's plan to project the 26/11
attack as "Hindu Terror", Maria wrote, "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 on the terrorists, he
mentioned.
    On a photograph of Kasab released after the terror
attack, Maria mentioned "it was the handiwork of central
agencies. The Mumbai Police tried hard to not disclose any
details to media fearing for the security."
    In the photograph, Kasab was seen wearing a red thread
on his right wrist, which is believed to be a sacred Hindu
thread. This led many to believe the theory that the
perpetrators were planning to blame the 26/11 attacks as
'Hindu terror'.
    "There would have been screaming headlines in
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," Maria wrote in the book.
    He also said that martyred Mumbai constable Tukaram
Omble's heroic feat of capturing Kasab alive was key to
foiling this plan.
    According to the book, "Kasab joined the ranks of LeT
to commit robberies and had nothing to do with jihad. Such,
however, was the indoctrination, that Kasab was made to
believe that Muslims were not allowed to offer namaaz in
India."
    He was, thus, shocked when his visit to a mosque near
Metro cinema was facilitated, Maria mentions in the book.
    According to the former police official, Kasab was
given a week-long leave and Rs 1.25 lakh before being sent on
the mission to strike Mumbai.
    He (Kasab) gave the money to his family for his
sister's wedding, he added.
    In one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in the
country's history, 166 people were killed and over 300 injured
as 10 heavily-armed terrorists from Pakistan created mayhem in
Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
    Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive, was hanged
to death on November 21, 2012. PTI DC
GK GK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)