- Ujjwal Nikam is portrayed by Rajkummar Rao in the film Prahaar about the Kasab trial
- Kasab was sentenced to death for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and executed in 2012
- Nikam admitted in 2015 that the Kasab biryani demand story was fabricated by him
The first teaser of Prahaar: The Ujjwal Nikam Story has reignited interest in one of India's most high-profile legal battles.
Directed by Avinash Arun, the courtroom drama stars Rajkummar Rao as celebrated public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and centres on the prosecution of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
The teaser opens with Rao, dressed in a lawyer's robes, as Nikam's voiceover addresses a question that lingered throughout the trial: why, despite overwhelming evidence against Kasab, did the government not immediately punish him.
It then shifts to one of the defining moments of the prosecution, the decision by injured police officer Inspector Sanjay Govilkar not to kill Kasab during his capture.
In a powerful courtroom exchange recreated in the teaser, Nikam argues that Govilkar spared Kasab because he was vital evidence.
"Yahi karan hai ki hum Kasab jaise aatankwadi ko bhi kanoon ke raste par chal kar uske gunaho ki saza denge, hum?" he says, emphasising that even a terrorist would be punished only through due process of law.
The teaser builds towards Nikam demanding the death penalty for Kasab for waging war against India, before ending with glimpses of Jaideep Ahlawat, Wamiqa Gabbi and Sikandar Kher.
While the film revisits one of the country's most significant terrorism trials, it has also brought renewed attention to another chapter of Nikam's career: his 2015 admission that he had fabricated the now-famous "mutton biryani" story associated with Kasab.
26/11, Kasab And The Trial That Held India's Attention
On the night of November 26, 2008, ten heavily armed terrorists from Pakistan carried out coordinated attacks across Mumbai, targeting landmarks including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Leopold Cafe, Nariman House and Oberoi Trident.
The attacks lasted nearly 60 hours, leaving more than 160 people dead and hundreds injured.
Ajmal Kasab was the only attacker captured alive. His arrest became a crucial turning point in the investigation, allowing Indian agencies to establish the planning and execution of the attacks.
A special court convicted Kasab on May 3, 2010, finding him guilty of 80 offences, including murder and waging war against India. He was sentenced to death on four counts and life imprisonment on five others.
The Bombay High Court upheld the sentence in 2011, followed by the Supreme Court in August 2012. After his mercy petition was rejected by the President of India, Kasab was executed by hanging at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune on November 21, 2012, just days before the fourth anniversary of the attacks. He was buried within the prison premises.
Throughout the proceedings, Ujjwal Nikam led the prosecution for the state, making him one of the most recognisable faces of the trial.
Three Years After Kasab's Hanging Came A Startling Admission
For years, one story repeatedly surfaced whenever Kasab's imprisonment was discussed: that the terrorist had demanded mutton biryani while lodged in jail.
In 2015, however, Nikam publicly admitted that the story was not true.
Speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on counterterrorism in Jaipur, he said, "Kasab never demanded biryani and was never served by the government. I concocted it just to break an emotional atmosphere which was taking shape in favour of Kasab during the trial of the case."
Explaining why he had done so, Nikam described an incident during the proceedings when Kasab appeared emotional in court.
"Media was minutely observing his body language and he was well aware of it. One day, in the court room, he bowed his head and wiped his eyes. Moments later, electronic media broke the news - tears in Kasab's eyes. It was Rakshabandhan that day, and panel discussions were started in the media on it. Some guessed Kasab got emotional in memory of his sister and some even went on to question whether he was a terrorist or not," Nikam said.
According to him, the media narrative prompted him to respond.
"This kind of emotional wave and atmosphere was needed to [be] stopped. So, after that, I gave a statement to the media saying Kasab has demanded mutton biryani in the jail," he added.
He later acknowledged that the claim itself had no basis.
"The truth is that Kasab neither asked for biryani nor it was served."
The admission reignited debate because the "biryani" narrative had already become one of the most enduring public myths surrounding Kasab's imprisonment.
The Shakti Mills Trails And Another Episode Of A 'Scripted Drama'
The Kasab episode was not the only time Nikam's courtroom conduct drew scrutiny.
During the Shakti Mills gang rape trial, members of the Rahat team that supported the survivor alleged that Nikam had attempted to script a dramatic courtroom moment.
According to their account, the day before the survivor's deposition, she was allegedly told that she could beat the accused with her chappals in court. They claimed Nikam even examined her footwear, found it too flimsy and asked investigators to procure a sturdier pair.
The planned confrontation, however, never took place.
When the survivor later hesitated during her deposition, the judge reportedly explained that she could not assault the accused and that the law would take its course.
According to the Rahat team's account, Nikam later told waiting media that the survivor had wanted to hit the accused with her slippers from the witness box, a claim they argued exaggerated what had actually transpired inside the courtroom.
The episode became another instance in which Nikam's methods were publicly questioned, even as he remained one of the country's most prominent prosecutors.
A Career Defined By Landmark Cases
Born in Maharashtra's Jalgaon, Ujjwal Nikam began his legal career as a district prosecutor before handling several of India's most high-profile criminal and terrorism cases.
Over more than three decades, he prosecuted cases including the 1993 Bombay serial blasts, the Gulshan Kumar murder case, the Pramod Mahajan murder case, the 2013 Mumbai gang rape case and the 2016 Kopardi rape and murder case.
According to publicly available records, he secured 628 life imprisonments and 37 death penalties during his career.
He represented India at the United Nations on issues relating to global terrorism, received the Padma Shri in 2016, and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2025 by President Droupadi Murmu for his contributions to the field of law.
Now, with Prahaar set to release on August 7, Nikam's courtroom victories are once again in public conversation. So too are the moments outside the courtroom, including an admission made years after the Kasab trial that one of its most enduring stories was never true at all.