The Bombay High Court has upheld the trial court’s verdict imposing a death sentence on 26/11 convicted terrorist Ajmal Kasab, with an appeal before the Supreme Court and a plea for the President’s clemency now emerging as possible options to save him from execution.

Justices Ranjana Desai and R V More today pronounced their decision in the high profile criminal prosecution against the lone-surviving terrorist of the Mumbai 2008 attack in reaffirmation of a trial court ruling delivered in May 2010.

Kasab’s lawyer Farhana Shah told press that Kasab would be advised to approach the apex court.

The high court, however, rejected the state’s appeal against the trial court’s acquittal of two Indian-nationals who had allegedly provided logistical support to the terrorists due to lack of “corroborative” evidence, reported CNN.

According to an NDTV article there are also a total of 29 mercy-petition cases, including that of the Parliament attack convict Mohammed Afzal Guru, that are awaiting a Presidential pardon with a possibility that Kasab’s case could be lined up next.

The article added that each mercy-petition is heard in turn, which would mean that Kasab’s possible plea and by extension his execution could take years. The state has already spent crores of Rupees on the upkeep and security of Kasab until now.