CCTV footage of CST station shown at Mumbai attack trial
2009-06-18 [18:07:00 hrs] | | Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, on trial for the Mumbai attacks on Thursday watched intently as CCTV footage was shown of his alleged part in the massacre at Mumbai’s main railway station.
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| | | Kasab looked transfixed by images from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, which showed passengers fleeing for their lives and police desperately trying to fight back, a reporter in court said.
Fifty-two people were killed and 109 wounded in the station attack on November 26, the bloodiest single episode in the three-day orgy of violence by 10 terrorists that left 166 people dead.
The special prison court was told that there were 21 closed circuit television cameras at the station but the 15 cameras for the mainline train platforms were being repaired and not working on the night of the attack.
Kasab, 21, stared from the dock at a large white screen as the footage was played to a hushed courtroom, occasionally putting a finger to his mouth as if in contemplation, the reporter said.
The grainy colour images -- shown by the prosecution to back-up eyewitness evidence against the defendant -- began at 9:41pm, showing people sitting on the station floor or milling about talking on mobile phones.
But seconds later, they were seen running after Kasab and an accomplice allegedly began firing AK-47 assault rifles and throwing hand grenades.
Khaki-uniformed police were then seen taking cover behind pillars along a thoroughfare connecting the mainline and local commuter line platforms, occasionally peering out to see if they could spot the gunmen.
In a series of frames, an indistinct figure carrying a bulky backpack is seen about 15 metres (yards) away, wearing the light trousers and dark T-shirt the prosecution says Kasab had on at the time.
Police were seen firing their rifles at the two gunmen, who appeared to have taken cover behind benches on the concourse. One officer was seen throwing a plastic chair in the direction of the attackers.
Another platform camera showed a train arriving at 9:59pm, with passengers running for side exits from the station instead of straight ahead and into the gunmen's firing line.
Two figures were then seen moving for cover between pillars at the side of the platform. The silhouette of what appeared to be a rifle held out in front from the hip of the one of the men was could be seen before they disappeared. |
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