MUMBAI Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab was a school drop-out who now faces the death penalty for taking part in the bloodiest episode of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The 22-year-old Pakistani national was one of two heavily armed gunmen who opened fire and threw hand grenades at the citys main railway station on November 26, 2008, killing 52 people and wounding more than 100.
Biographical details are sketchy but those that have come to light show that Kasab was born and brought up in Faridkot, in the Punjab region of Pakistan.
His father, Mohammed Amir Iman, ran a food stall in the village and his mother was called Noor, according to the local electoral roll.
Kasab dropped out of school in 2000 and worked as a labourer in the eastern city of Lahore until 2005, according to his initial confession to police, which was widely published in India.
Kasab has reportedly said he joined Lashkar-i-Taiba (LT) to get weapons training after deciding to embark on a life of crime but there have also been claims that his father duped him into doing it for money.
The prosecution characterised Kasab as a shrewd and calculating operative while security experts said his poor, rural background and lack of education made him more susceptible to grooming by extremists.
His former lawyer suggested he may even have been brainwashed into carrying out the attacks.
One Faridkot farmer reportedly said that Kasab used to return to the village and talk of “freeing Kashmir”.
