A special inspector general of police in Maharashtra and 16 handpicked men oversaw Operation X leading to the death by hanging of Ajmal Amir Kasab on Wednesday.
The process was quietly initiated shortly after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected Kasab’s mercy plea on 5 November, official sources said.
The chosen team’s mission was to hang and bury the 25-year-old Kasab in complete secrecy in Pune’s Yerwada Central Jail, where he would be moved from Mumbai.
Once Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde signed the file from the president’s office on 7 November and sent it to the Maharashtra government the next day, the police team took charge.
Only a handful knew that Kasab would be hanged on 21 November morning.
These included Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh, the Pune police chief, and Meeran Borwankar, who heads the Yerwada jail, and those at the helm in the state intelligence department and Mumbai CID.
Yerwada is one of the two jails in Maharashtra – the other being Nagpur Central Jail – where hanging facilities are available.
Pune’s proximity to Mumbai played a role. An expert hangman was summoned.
On 12 November, Kasab had been told of his impending hanging by a jail staff in Mumbai.
According to Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Kasab was quietly shifted from Mumbai to Pune on 19 November.
He was taken on a special flight late at night to reach Pune early on November 19 and whisked off to the Yerwada jail.
He requested that his mother be informed, and indicated he had no last wish. He did not want to make a will or any final testament.
As home minister RR Patil put it, after completing all legal niceties, Kasab was executed at 7.30 am on Wednesday.
Just 15 minutes later, the Operation X chief conveyed to the state home department that the task was ‘successfully completed’.
The process was quietly initiated shortly after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected Kasab’s mercy plea on 5 November, official sources said.
The chosen team’s mission was to hang and bury the 25-year-old Kasab in complete secrecy in Pune’s Yerwada Central Jail, where he would be moved from Mumbai.
Once Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde signed the file from the president’s office on 7 November and sent it to the Maharashtra government the next day, the police team took charge.
Only a handful knew that Kasab would be hanged on 21 November morning.
These included Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh, the Pune police chief, and Meeran Borwankar, who heads the Yerwada jail, and those at the helm in the state intelligence department and Mumbai CID.
Yerwada is one of the two jails in Maharashtra – the other being Nagpur Central Jail – where hanging facilities are available.
Pune’s proximity to Mumbai played a role. An expert hangman was summoned.
On 12 November, Kasab had been told of his impending hanging by a jail staff in Mumbai.
According to Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Kasab was quietly shifted from Mumbai to Pune on 19 November.
He was taken on a special flight late at night to reach Pune early on November 19 and whisked off to the Yerwada jail.
He requested that his mother be informed, and indicated he had no last wish. He did not want to make a will or any final testament.
As home minister RR Patil put it, after completing all legal niceties, Kasab was executed at 7.30 am on Wednesday.
Just 15 minutes later, the Operation X chief conveyed to the state home department that the task was ‘successfully completed’.