15 April,2009 06:17 PM IST | | IANS
Maharashtra Home Minister Jayant Patil says intelligence information indicates a plot was hatched "abroad" to kill 26/11 terror suspect Ajmal Amir Qasab.
He told The Times in comments quoted on Wednesday that the alleged plot was the reason additional security measures, such as a bomb-proof corridor, were built in the special courtroom where Qasab is being tried.
The paper also quoted Rakesh Maria, the police officer in charge of the 26/11 probe, as saying police had uncovered a plan, originating in Pakistan, to silence Qasab.
But Maria said Qasab, an alleged member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group, knows a limited amount. "We have a limb, not the brain of the organisation behind the attack," he told The Times.
The paper said Qasab's trial was nevertheless set to attract global attention.
Christine Fair, a senior political scientist at the US thinktank RAND Corporation, said, "He is the first LeT operative (caught during) an unquestionable terrorist outrage who is absolutely Pakistani. That he was caught alive - a weird thing for an LeT operative - puts Pakistan in a very difficult place."
