'Indian records in Mumbai attacks case expected tomorrow'

Records of the cross-examination of Indian witnesses by a Pakistani judicial commission in connection with the Mumbai attacks case are likely to be received by Pakistani authorities tomorrow, a prosecutor said today.

An anti-terrorism court here conducting the trial of seven Pakistani suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks had on October 3 postponed proceedings till tomorrow because of the lack of the Indian court records.

"The records were supposed to reach us in a week but this has been delayed. Our Foreign Office has told me that it might come by tomorrow afternoon," Special Public Prosecutor Chaudhury Mohammed Azhar told PTI.

Asked about the delay, Indian diplomatic sources said the records were sent to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi last week.

The Mumbai attacks case was adjourned for three weeks after the prosecution informed the judge that India had not submitted court records of the cross-examination of key witnesses in Mumbai by the Pakistani judicial commission.

Prosecution officials told Judge Atiqur Rehman of the anti-terrorism court that the report on the judicial commission's visit to India would be presented in court once Pakistani authorities received the Indian court records.

Observing that summons could not be issued to witnesses till the report is submitted, the judge adjourned the case till October 24.

Azhar had earlier told PTI that the visit to Mumbai was "excellent from the prosecution's point of view". He said all Indian authorities had cooperated with the Pakistani panel.

The commission cross-examined the magistrate who recorded lone surviving attacker Ajmal Kasab's statement, the chief investigating officer and two doctors who conducted the autopsy of the terrorists who carried out the attacks.

This was the commission's second visit to India. A report submitted by the panel after its first visit in March 2012 was rejected by an anti-terrorism court as the commission's members were not allowed to cross-examine witnesses.