‘Kasab never asked for Biryani, we created a myth’, says 26/11 Mumbai attack prosecutor

March 21, 2015

Mumbai, Mar 21: 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Ajmal Kasab's demand for Mutton Biryani in jail was just a myth and was "concocted" to stop an "emotional wave" which was being created in favour of the militant, claimed Ujjwal Nikam, public prosecutor in the case.

"Kasab never demanded Biryani and was never served by the government. I concocted it just to break an emotional atmosphere which was taking shape in favour of Kasab during the trial of the case," Nikam told reporters on the sidelines of international conference on counter-terrorism here.

Kasab
"Media was minutely observing his body language and he was well aware of it. One day, in the court room, he bowed his head and wiped his eyes.

"Moments later, electronic media broke the news-- tears in Kasab's eyes. It was Raksha Bandhan that day, and panel discussions were started in the media on it.

"Some guessed Kasab got emotional in memory of his sister and some even went on to question whether he was a terrorist or not," Nikam said.

"This kind of emotional wave and atmosphere was needed to the stopped. So, after that, I gave a statement to the media saying Kasab has demanded Mutton Biryani in the jail," he said.

Nikam said that when he told this to the media, again panel discussions were started and the media highlighted that a dreaded terrorist was demanding Mutton Biryani in jail while "the truth is that Kasab neither asked for Biryani nor it was served."

Nikam said that he during a session in the ongoing conference also disclosed this to the audience.

Pakistani terrorist Kasab was hanged to death in November 2012 nearly four years after the November 2008 attack in which he had killed scores of people.

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News Network
December 5,2025

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New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said. 

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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