Mumbai: For seven days in February, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, was not behind bars.
In the first-ever revelation of this episode, DNA learnt that Kasab was admitted to St George Hospital as a 'cop' even as the police top brass went to great lengths to ensure that the news of his shifting from the crime branch lock-up at Crawford Market (he was shifted to Arthur Road prison much later) to the hospital was kept under wraps.
A couple of months after the November 26, 2008, terror attacks, doctors at the St George Hospital received a request from the police that one of their officers had developed chest pain and needed to be hospitalised. When the 'officer' was admitted, the doctors and hospital staff were shocked at discovering that he was Kasab. The dumbstruck and nervous doctors were informed that due to security reasons, Kasab's presence at the hospital could not be made public. His treatment went on for a week before being discharged.
During this time, a cop was made to disguise himself as Kasab and stay in the lock-up to avoid suspicion. "A dabbawala used to visit the lock-up everyday. Had it been empty, he could have passed on the word to others," the official said.
Such was the level of precaution taken by the Mumbai police that an officer of the crime branch actually disguised himself as a patient and stayed in the hospital through the duration of his hospitalisation.
As many as 20 policemen kept a round-the-clock watch in the guise of hospital staff, and even hawkers and vendors outside the building.
A senior crime branch official, on the condition of anonymity, explained that, for a while in February, Kasab had stopped eating and the attending doctor had advised some tests, for which the gunman had to be hospitalised. "We found that St George's Hospital had a facility, wherein a separate room could be provided to a patient," said the official. The other neighbouring hospital, GT Hospital, did not have the required facility.
The official added that selected senior doctors were taken into confidence about Kasab's illness and the need for his admission for treatment. "The doctors were informed well in advance that policemen would be staying in the hospital 24/7, disguising themselves as doctors and relatives of Kasab. Of the 20 policemen who were put on duty, some were made to keep vigil at surrounding locations pretending as vendors and hawkers," said the official.
"The reason behind this was that if the policemen were put on duty in uniform, this could have aroused suspicion in the minds of the people. During that time, there was a threat to Kasab's life from both the ISI and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, as per a specific intelligence report. We didn't want to take any risk by disclosing either his identity or his location," the official said.
When asked, Rakesh Maria did not deny about the incident and said, "Yes, Kasab was taken to St George's Hospital in February, after he complained of chest pain and there were some strategic plans chalked out for his security. I cannot elaborate more on this."
First Published: Monday, November 09, 2009, 09:45