Mumbai terror attacks: Chronology

Press Trust of India
Following is the chronology of the Mumbai terror attacks, which took place on November 26, 2008 last year leading to the filing of the chargesheet on Wednesday.

November 26, 2008: Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman Qasab arrested by security forces after Mumbai is attacked by 10 terrorists. Qasab is accused of killing six policemen including ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and Inspector Vijay Salaskar near Cama hospital.

November 29, 2008: NSG clears all three terror attack sites -- Hotel Taj, Oberoi-Trident hotel and Nariman house -- of terrorists nearly three days after it launches massive operation.

November 30, 2008: Shivraj Patil resigns as Home Minister owning moral responsibility for Mumbai terror attacks. P Chidambaram replaces Patil.

December 11, 2008: Qasab remanded to police custody till December 24 by a court in Mumbai. Home Minister P Chidambaram says the needle of suspicion behind attacks "unmistakably" points to Pakistan and the origin of all the 10 terrorists who entered the country have been established conclusively.

December 14, 2008: FBI and other western investigating agencies take DNA samples of all nine Lashkar-e-Taiba militants killed in Mumbai attacks to ascertain if they had any Afghan or other terror links.

December 15, 2008: Union Cabinet approves amendments to the law to provide for a tough legal framework and the setting up of a National Investigating Agency (NIA) to combat terror.

December 16, 2008: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee says Islamabad should follow up its promise to the global community with action.

December 16, 2008: Government introduces two bills providing for setting up NIA to probe terror cases across the country and to provide for deterrent provisions like detention without bail for up to 180 days and enhanced penalty to life imprisonment for those involved in terror acts.

December 21, 2008: Maharashtra's Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam says state police will club all the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack cases together.

December 22, 2008: Terming terror infrastructure in Pakistan as the "greatest danger" to the entire world, India says efforts made by international community to deal with the situation are "not enough" and New Delhi will use "all measures" necessary to tackle the problem.

December 22, 2008: A five-member Interpol team meets Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria and seeks details of Qasab.

December 23, 2008: FBI completes probe in India and finds evidence of Pakistan security establishment being involved in the carnage. Pakistan claims it has no record of Qasab.

December 26, 2008: India impresses on US and Pakistan's two key allies China and Saudi Arabia to pressurise Islamabad to take concrete action against those behind Mumbai attacks.

December 27, 2008: Mumbai police shifts Qasab to Arthur Road jail in central Mumbai for identification parade.

December 29, 2008: Qasab brought back to Crime Branch lock-up.

January 5, 2009: India hands over to Pakistan evidence linking that country to Mumbai attacks. Shares evidence related to involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the attacks with China.

January 6, 2009: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accuses Pakistan of utilizing terrorism as a state policy and says given the "sophistication and military precision" of Mumbai attack, it must have had the support of some official agencies in that country.

Pakistan says it is "examining" the evidence handed over by India in connection with Mumbai attack.

India gives Pakistan a list of "handlers" who are based in that country and were in touch with the terrorists during the attacks.

January 7, 2009: Six terrorists, part of a Pakistani group which struck in Mumbai, sent to Kashmir for "some operations", according to the dossier India handed over to Pakistan.

India slams Pakistan for rejecting within 24 hours the evidence provided to it on Mumbai attacks, saying Islamabad has resorted to the "previous patterns of denial of facts, evidence and reality".

January 9, 2009: The United States says it is determined to work "non-stop" and "as long as it takes" to ensure that the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks are brought to justice.

January 17, 2009: France asks Pakistan to extend "full cooperation" to ensure that those behind the carnage are punished in the "most severe way".

January 19, 2009: Qasab remanded in police custody till February 2 in the CST firing case.

India says the civilian government in Pakistan was "not strong enough" to act against terror on its own.

January 22, 2009: The Mumbai carnage could not have been carried out without indirect support from "professional organisations" in Pakistan: Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta.

Germany, which lost three of its citizens in Mumbai strikes, says it felt that Lashkar-e-Taiba was responsible for the attacks but cannot hazard a guess on other groups that could be linked to al-Qaeda being behind it.

January 27, 2009: India says it will not be satisfied until Pakistan fulfils its international obligation to act sternly against the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks and dismantle terror infrastructure existing on its soil.

February 2, 2009: Qasab remanded in police custody till February 13 for murdering the captain of a Gujarat-based fishing vessel.

February 17, 2009: FBI hands over all the crucial evidence, linking the perpetrators of Mumbai terrorists to Pakistan, to a team of Mumbai Police in Washington.

February 20, 2009: Police remand of Qasab shifted to judicial custody.

February 23, 2009: India's approach of "cohesive diplomacy" has "forced" Pakistan to admit that its soil was used for launching Mumbai attacks, Home Minister P Chidamabaram says.

February 25, 2009: Mumbai police files 11,000-page chargesheet in the 26/11 terror attacks before metropolitan magistrate M J Mirza.