Go ahead and hang me, Mumbai gunman tells court

The sole surviving gunman of last year's Mumbai attacks told the judge in his trial yesterday that he was prepared to be put to death after making a dramatic confession of his role in the operation.

"Please go ahead and hang me," Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani national, told Judge M.L. Tahaliyani in court.

The judge was considering how to proceed after Mr Kasab's sudden decision on Monday to confess, in lengthy detail, to being one of the 10 militant gunmen in the November attacks, which left 166 people dead and more than 300 injured.

"Whatever I have done, I have done in this world. It would be better that I be punished in this world. It would be better than God's punishment," Mr Kasab said.

"If anyone is worried that I'm trying to escape death by hanging, I'm not. If that's the punishment, so be it."

Mr Kasab's confession on Monday had taken the judge, prosecution and even his own lawyer by surprise.

He had initially pleaded not guilty to 86 charges, including one of waging war against India.

If convicted, he faces a possible death sentence.

In his admission, Mr Kasab told the court he had orders to take hostages at the city's main railway station, where he and an accomplice, Abu Ismail, opened fire and threw grenades, killing 52 and injuring more than 100 others.

The rail station assault was the bloodiest episode of the 60-hour reign of terror against multiple targets in south Mumbai.

Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam offered a sceptical take on Kasab's confession, arguing that he had made only a partial and "half-hearted" admission, which did not cover all the charges.

Mr Nikam also suggested that his apparent bravado over the death penalty was part of a strategy to save him from the hangman.

"Very shrewdly, very cleverly Mr Kasab has tried to save his own skin by showing he was acting as a subordinate to Abu Ismail," the lawyer said yesterday.

"He knows that by denying a major role, no Indian court is going to award the death penalty," he added.