What Kasab told Maharashtra's top politicians

As you sow so shall you reap -- this was the response of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab when Maharashtra's Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse asked the 26/11 convict how he was feeling at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.

Maharashtra's Home Minister R R Patil, accompanied by Leader of Opposition in state assembly Khadse on Tuesday visited the jail in Mumbai, where Kasab is lodged.

"The leader of opposition asked him (Kasab) how he was feeling. He replied that jaisa boya, waisa kata (I have reaped what I sowed)," Patil told reporters later.

"Beyond this, I also did not want to speak (to Kasab)," Patil said.

The minister said he found the jail overcrowded.

"It has a capacity of 781 inmates but nearly 2,000 prisoners are lodged here," Patil said.

The staff strength at the jail is also less than one-third of the sanctioned strength, the minister said.

"We will shift some of them to the new Taloja jail which has come up in the adjoining Raigad district," he said.

The state government would also come up with a policy on jail security in view of the towers that have come up in the vicinity of the jail, he added.

Image: Maharashtra's Home Minister R R Patil accompanied by Leader of Opposition in state assembly Eknath Khadse at the Arthur Road Jail | Photograph: Sahil Salvi