Former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria, who made same startling revelations in his 624-page memoir 'Let Me Say It Now', wrote how he made the Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Kasab say "Bharat Mata ki Jai".
Maria extensively wrote about the investigation helmed by him in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in the book that was released on Monday.
"If all had gone well, he (Kasab) would have been dead with a red string tied around his wrist like a Hindu. We would have found an identity card on his person with a fictitious name: Samir Dinesh Chaudhari, student of Arunodaya Degree and P.G. College, Vedre Complex, Dilkhushnagar, Hyderabad, 500060, resident of 254, Teachers Colony, Nagarabhavi, Bengaluru," Maria writes.
About the interrogation of Kasab he writes, “Bend down and touch the ground with your forehead,' I ordered Kasab. Spooked, he meekly followed my instructions. Now say, 'Bharat Mata ki jai', I commanded. 'Bharat Mata ki jai!' said Kasab. Not satisfied with just once, I made him repeat it twice."
Maria's book also mentions that Pakistan's ISI and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were trying to kill Kasab by "hook or by crook" after he was caught alive by ASI Tukaram Ombale.
"As the Joint CP in charge of the Crime Branch, Kasab was now my most esteemed guest. Keeping this enemy alive was my number one priority. Anger and hostility towards Kasab were perceptible. The way the men and officers were reacting to him, I had to personally choose his guards for the entire period he would be with us," Maria writes in the book.
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"The ISI and the Lashkar were bent upon eliminating him by hook or by crook to obliterate the only living evidence of their heinous deed. We had received a letter from the Government of India that Kasabs security was entirely the responsibility of the Mumbai police and within it, of the Crime Branch.
"Specific Intelligence inputs had been received from Central Intelligence agencies that Pakistan was intent on killing Kasab and the Dawood Ibrahim gang had been entrusted with the task. The reputation of the Mumbai police, not just my job, was at stake if anything were to happen to him," Maria writes.
Maria writes that Kasab felt Muslims were not allowed to offer namaaz in India.
"He seriously believed that Muslims were not allowed to offer namaaz in India and mosques were locked up by the authorities. He felt that the azaan he heard five times a day in the Crime Branch lock-up was just a figment of his imagination.
"When we came to know of this, I instructed Mahale to take him to the mosque near the Metro Cinema in a vehicle. When he saw the namaaz in progress with his own eyes, he was bewildered. This was not how it was supposed to be!" Maria writes in the book.
(with PTI inputs)