MUMBAI: The trailer of ‘Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam’ was launched by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) on Tuesday, bringing the film about the veteran prosecutor to one of the sites at the heart of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
“We could have killed Kasab if we wanted; we could have shot him. He also linked the prosecution to justice for the police and security personnel killed during the attacks, naming Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner Ashok Kamte, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, NSG commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and assistant sub-inspector Tukaram Omble among those who died.
Fadnavis said the film would bring before the public the legal battle that followed the attacks and credited Nikam with using the Kasab trial to expose the conspiracy and role of Pakistan as alleged by the prosecution. But our police and our justice system thoughtfully showed the world that India is a nation that delivers justice through the law,” Fadnavis said. He said the significance of the prosecution went beyond securing Kasab’s death sentence. “The final justice was that the world accepted Pakistan was a terrorist nation; the world accepted that this was state involvement,” Fadnavis said, adding that the 10 attackers were not “just some random terrorists” but had been “fully trained and financed” and sent by Pakistan. Fadnavis said Nikam had “steered this entire case, removing each layer one by one” and established “that this was an incident carried out by Pakistan; what the conspiracy behind it was and who all were behind it”. He said Kasab first claimed to be a minor, later gave different accounts of how he had reached Mumbai, alleged that he was being poisoned and eventually sought to make a confessional statement, only to deny responsibility in it. He singled out police constable Arun Jadhav, who was in the police vehicle involved in the encounter in which Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar were killed, describing his testimony as “very important” to the trial.
Nikam, who prosecuted Kasab before the special court, recalled how the accused repeatedly changed his version during the proceedings.
Nikam also recalled the painstaking process of presenting evidence in a case in which witnesses had themselves survived a massacre. “It was difficult to record every testimony. To persuade the family of a little girl to allow her to testify was difficult.
But we did everything,” he said.
The prosecution’s case, which the courts accepted in Kasab’s conviction, traced the attack to Lashkar-e-Taiba handlers in Pakistan. Pakistan has denied state involvement in the attacks.
His remarks were directed at highlighting what he described as the broader significance of the evidence placed before the court.
