Over the weeks Maria interrogated Kasab many times. After the first few sessions Maria started speaking to Kasab in Punjabi. (Since Maria's forefathers were from Punjab, he speaks the language very well). One afternoon, about a month after the incident, Maria summoned Kasab in his office.
'Do you want to meet your other colleagues now?' he asked.
'Yes I would like to see them,' Kasab replied.
Maria called a crime branch officer inside his office and told him, 'Please take him to the place where his others friends have been kept. After their meeting bring him back to my office.'
Kasab was driven in a police vehicle to JJ Hospital. As Kasab entered the building he realised it was a hospital. 'Are they all badly injured?' he asked an accompanying police officer. The officer looked at him and said, 'You can see for yourself.'
| The faces of the terrorists were twisted, teeth jutting out, and the skin of the face was deathly pale or scalded and burnt. |
Kasab was taken to the mortuary and the bodies of all the nine terrorists were slid out. Bodies of Javed and Shoaib were half charred. Nazeer's body was like a frozen mound of charcoal. Ismail's head had been severely damaged due to his bullet injury. Hafiz Arshad's face was almost completely burnt. Fahadullah had been shot through his eye. Nasir and Babar Imran's bodies were riddled with bullets. The faces of the terrorists were twisted, teeth jutting out, and the skin of the face was deathly pale or scalded and burnt. There was a sickening smell in the room. Kasab could not stay there for long. He told the officers he wanted to leave. He was driven back to Maria's office.
As Kasab entered the room Maria asked him, 'So, did you see the glow on their faces and smell the fragrance of roses emanating from their bodies as Hafiz Sayeed had told you?'
As Kasab entered the room Maria asked him, 'So, did you see the glow on their faces and smell the fragrance of roses emanating from their bodies as Hafiz Sayeed had told you?'
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Kasab kept staring at the floor. Tears rolled down his face. Maria told a few constables to escort Kasab back into the crime branch lock-up. |