26/11 court allows police to dispose off 24 kg RDX

A special court has allowed the police to dispose off approximately 24 kg of RDX recovered from the 26/11 Mumbai attack target spots.

The RDX will be burnt in a controlled atmosphere in the presence of a Magistrate, crime branch sources said, adding that the trial court had given permission to go ahead with the disposal.

The RDX was recovered from three unexploded improvised explosive devices -- one outside Taj Mahal Hotel, another near Gokul Restaurant and the third from an unclaimed baggage at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus -- in November 2008.

The seized explosive was placed before the court as evidence, according to Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

It is the prosecution's case that two deceased terrorist, Abdul Rehman Bada and Javed alias Abu Ali, had planted 8-10 kg of RDX-laden IED outside the main porch of Taj Hotel in south Mumbai.

However, before it could explode, the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad defused the bomb.

Two other terrorists, Abu Shoib and Abu Umer, who had fired at people at Leopold Cafe, had planted 8-10 kg of RDX-laden IED on the kerb near Gokul Restaurant in the same area, which did not explode.

Both Shoib and Umer were later killed by the security forces in the gun-battle at Hotel Taj.

The third pair of attackers, Ajmal Kasab and slain terrorist Abu Ismail, had kept RDX-filled IED in an unclaimed baggage at CST station, before firing indiscriminately at people there. The IED had not exploded.

In the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case, the police had similarly disposed of RDX in the presence of the chief metropolitan magistrate.

At that time, M L Tahaliyani, who is now presiding over the 26/11 court, was the CMM and the seized RDX was destroyed in his presence.

Nine terrorists were shot dead by security forces while Ajmal Kasab was caught alive during an encounter with the police.