26/11 Mumbai Attacks: Photojournalist Who Captured Ajmal Kasab Claims Police Let Terrorists Flee From CSMT as They Were Afraid

"There were two police battalions present near the station, but did nothing," he said. The photojourmalist is now retired and settled in Goa.

Mumbai: As one of the most horrific terror attacks of the country – 26/11 Mumbai attacks – complete 10 years on Monday, the photojournalist who captured the chilling image of terrorist Ajmal Kasab at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus made a major revelation on Sunday.

Speaking to PTI, he claimed that Kasab and his accomplice fled from the railway station because the police had let them. “Had policemen posted near the railway station killed Kasab and the other terrorist inside the station, so many lives could have been saved,” Sebastian D’Souza said.

“There were two police battalions present near the station, but did nothing,” he said. The photojourmalist is now retired and settled in Goa.

On November 26, 2008, Sebastian D’Souza ran out from his office next to the train station armed with nothing more than his Nikon camera and lenses, after hearing the gunfire. “I ran into the first carriage of one of the trains on the platform to try and get a shot, but as I could not get a good angle, moved to the second carriage and waited for the terrorists to walk by. I briefly had time to take a couple of frames. I think they saw me taking photographs, but didn’t seem to care,” he said.

Saby, 67, won the World Press Photo award for the close-up photograph of Kasab, holding an AK-47. He took the photos using a telephoto lens on his Nikon camera, while hiding inside a train carriage.

Terming the sequence of events of the fateful night as an ‘old film’ which he wants to erase from his memory, he said, “I don’t want to remember what I did that (November 26) night.” He now keeps himself busy with carpentry and paintings.

In one of the most horrific terrorist attacks on the soil of India, 166 people were killed and over 300 were injured when ten heavily-armed terrorists from Pakistan ran a rampage in Mumbai 10 years ago.