Mumbai: Ahead of the arrival of a judicial commission from Pakistan, a court here issued summons to four persons including a magistrate, to record their statements in connection with the 26/11 terror attack case. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of the Esplenade court in south Mumbai issued the summons to magistrate R V Sawant Waghule, who recorded the confession of lone surviving Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, and crime branch officer Ramesh Mahale, who was the investigating officer in the November 26, 2008 terror strike by Lashker-e-Taiba terrorists in Mumbai in which over 160 people were killed. Two doctors from state-run J J Hospital and civic-run Nair hospital have also been asked to appear in court to record their statements. They had conducted autopsies on the nine killed terrorists and victims of the terror strike which lasted for nearly 72 hours.
The 12-member judicial commission from Pakistan will arrive in Delhi tomorrow and be in Mumbai on March 15.
While Waghule and Mahale have been summoned on March 16, statements of the doctors will be recorded on March 17, official sources said.
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who represented Maharashtra government in the trial against Kasab, has been appointed to assist the commission which will examine the witnesses at the Esplanade court itself.
According to Maharashtra police, the commission includes defence lawyers Khwaja Haris, Riya Akram Choudhary, Fakhar Haayat, Raja Ehassan Ulhakhan and Isaam Bin Haris, Special Public Prosecutors Choudhary Mohammed Azhar and Choudhary Ali and court official Azad Khan.
The statements of the four witnesses will be used as evidence before an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan, which is conducting trial against LeT`s Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects.
PTI