26/11 terror attack: Param Bir Singh took away Kasab's phone, alleges former ACP

Controversies surrounding former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh are increasing by the day. In the latest revelation, he was at the receiving end, as serious allegations were levelled against him by former assistant commissioner of police Shamsher Singh Pathan in a letter addressed to the Mumbai Commissioner of Police.

Mumbai:In a sensational revelation, former assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Shamsher Khan Pathan alleged that phone recovered from terrorist Ajmal Kasab by former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh was not presented during the probe or trial and he had filed a complaint in this regard to the current Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale in July this year.

It may be recalled that Kasab was one of 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, who came to Mumbai via sea route from Pakistan and carried out a series of coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across the city on November 26, 2011. He was caught and was sentenced to death at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune in 2012.

In a letter to the Mumbai Police chief, Pathan said, "During the 26/11 terrorist attacks, Param Bir Singh, the then DIG ATS, confiscated terrorist Ajmal Kasab's phone, ensuring that phone never appeared during the probe or trial." "I wrote a letter regarding this in July this year. He (Param Bir Singh) should be arrested by NIA for the destruction of evidence. He must have sold this recovered evidence to ISIS or may have used the information for extortion," he said.

Meanwhile, Ujjwal Nikam, who was a public prosecutor in the case, said, "I don't have the exact details on this. But I know that Kasab's phone was not there with us during the trial. So non-presentation of the phone, only investigating officers or people concerned can give a response. I am aware that those 10 attackers were distributed in five groups and each group had one mobile phone, Kasab's phone was not in use during the trial." Nikam further said, "If the phone was with us as evidence during the trial we could have proven even more facts about his association with his Pakistani handlers.

(With agency inputs)