NEW DELHI: In a secret operation, LeT terrorist and 26/11 attacks accused Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab was hanged in the high-security Yerwada Jail in Pune at 7:30am today after a four-year-long trial. Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said he was buried inside the Yerwada Jail at 9.30am.

Union home secretary R K Singh said: "Family members of Kasab informed about the hanging through a letter sent by courier." The lone surviving terrorist in the Mumbai attack of November 26, 2008 was shifted to the Yerwada Jail following the rejection of his mercy petition by the President earlier on November 5.

Home minister Sushil Shinde said: " Ajmal Kasab was hanged at 7:30am. It took the Maharashtra government less than two weeks to hang Kasab after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy petition on November 5. Two days later, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde signed on the file. It was sent to the Maharashtra government on November 8 and November 21, today, was fixed as the date of execution."

According to Maharashtra home minister R R Patil: "26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Ajmal Kasab's mercy petition was rejected on November 8. He also confirmed that Kasab was hanged at about 7:30am on Wednesday.

"The punishment to Kasab is a true tribute to the victims and martyrs of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks," Patil said.

Meanwhile, home minister Sushil Shinde said: "Indian mission in Islamabad informs Pakistan government about Kasab's hanging through letter. Pakistan refuses to take the letter, which was then faxed."

The entire process was executed very secretly, the home minister said.

"Yes, Kasab has been hanged this (Wednesday) morning at 7.30am in Yerawada Central Jail," Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who led the 26/11 terror attacks case.

In January 2010, nine of Kasab's associates, who had sneaked into Mumbai on the night of Nov 26, 2008, to unleash three days of terror, were quietly buried at an undisclosed location near Mumbai.

Kasab's end came just five days before the fourth anniversary of the brutal terror attacks that killed 166 lives and injured 300.