Mumbai Attackers to be Charged

Flames gush out of the roof of The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai on November 27, 2008, one of the sites of attacks by alleged militant gunmen. (Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images)

BANGALORE, India—Mumbai terror attack suspects were to be formally charged before a metropolitan magistrate in Mumbai on Wednesday, three months after the incident. Later, a special court will take up the case, authorities said on Tuesday.

A 5,000-page charge sheet was to be filed against more than two dozen suspects including the lone captured gunman Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab for crimes ranging from murder to waging war against the country.

“The voluminous charge sheet will hopefully answer all the questions about the Mumbai terror attacks of November 26, 2008,” a police officer told the media on Tuesday.

The charge sheet is said to contain input from the FBI as well. Some FBI sleuths are also expected to depose before the court through video-conferencing on Wednesday.

The charge sheet will name some members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), believed to be Pakistani nationals, including the nine gunmen killed in the encounter during the attack as well as Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, who is the suspected mastermind of the attack.

Ten gunmen came to Mumbai through a sea route and went on a shooting spree at select locations including the prestigious Taj Mahal Hotel and Oberoi hotel, as well as a crowded railway station, killing 183 people. The carnage went on for three days. While nine gunmen were killed by Indian security forces, Kasab was nabbed alive.