26/11 trial: Kazmi seeks 4-week time

Advocate for Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, the lone terrorist arrested for his alleged involvement in the November 26 terror strikes, has sought four weeks time to reply to the draft charges proposed by the prosecution.Abbas Kazmi, who was appointed by the court last week to represent Qasab, sought time to study the case.On Monday, the prosecution had proposed 312 charges against Qasab and two others for their alleged involvement in the November 26 terror strikes which claimed over 160 lives.Qasab also asked the court for a copy of the chargesheet to be translated for him into Urdu since he was unable to understand the copy given to him by the police.He had earlier sought a copy of the chargesheet in Urdu saying that he would be able to understand it better.Special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam asked the court to order an inquiry to determine the actual age of Qasab and sought that the prosecution should be allowed to submit its findings. Qasab's lawyer said he had no objection to it.A resident of Faridkot in Pakistan, Qasab had claimed in an application filed last week that he was a juvenile at the time of committing the crime in November. However, the application was dismissed by special judge M L Tahilyani.The court has reserved its judgement in the applications and adjourned proceedings till tomorrow.Another accused, Sabauddin Ahmed has pleaded through his lawyer Ejaz Naqvi that he had been subjected to third degree torture methods while in police custody and sought the dismissal of the concerned police officials.He also sought that two alleged FBI officials, identified by him only as James and Mike, who had interrogated him should be arrested.Special Judge Tahilyani has asked the police to file its reply to Sabauddin's application.Sabauddin and Faheem Ansari, two alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives, are facing trial with Qasab for allegedly providing information about locations in Mumbai, which was used by the terror group to execute the November 26 attack.