The man alleged to be the sole survivor of the terrorist team that carried out the Mumbai attacks told a court yesterday that his confession — which hints at the involvement of the Pakistan state in the atrocity — was beaten out of him by police.

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab is accused of being one of ten highly trained Islamist militants who raided Mumbai in a commando-style strike that lasted three days in November. He faces 166 counts of murder and is accused of waging war on India; crimes that carry the death penalty.

Mr Kasab also claimed to be only 16 years old at the time of the attacks, which would save him from a possible death sentence and delay his trial. The court said it did not believe he was a minor and pushed ahead with proceedings.

In his confession, which he wanted to retract, Mr Kasab admitted being a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist faction. He also gave details of sophisticated training conducted in camps in Pakistan and said he was sent to Mumbai by sea from Karachi to kill as many Britons, Americans and Israelis as possible.

The statement, which was recorded before a magistrate, also contains the potentially explosive but unsubstantiated allegation that a man identified only as Major General Sahab, who may have been an officer in the Pakistani Army, oversaw the Mumbai attacks.

“Kasab was beaten, thrashed, physically tortured by police,” Mr Kasab’s lawyer, Abbas Kazmi, a veteran defence council in high-profile terror cases, told The Times. “Under this fear he recorded his so-called confession.”

Mr Kazmi said that Mr Kasab does not want to plead guilty and intends to fight the case.

Indian police are notorious for their use of “third degree” interrogation methods, which run from the dislocation of fingers to electric shocks and severe beatings. However, the police chief who interrogated Mr Kasab has denied using any form of coercion. “In those first moments he was in our custody, I had just four questions,” Rakesh Maria, the head of the Mumbai Crime Branch, told The Times. “How many terrorists? How well armed? What were their plans? How did they get here?”

Mr Maria said that Mr Kasab showed signs of being trained on how to withstand interrogation, but, cracked within hours and supplied information on the outline of the terrorist plot and his origins. “Kasab was relatively forthcoming,” he said.

Mr Maria, one of India’s most feted detectives, dismissed the suggestion that his men resorted to torture. “Real interrogation never works like that,” he said. “It’s not as you see it in the films.”

The disputed confession had already emerged as a key plank of the prosecution’s case in a trial that promises to have serious implications for the strained relationship between India and Pakistan.

Extracts quoted from it yesterday included a description of how Mr Kasab had allegedly been radicalised after making contact with Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a Pakistan-based group that claims to be involved in charitable work but is widely considered a front for the LeT.

The confession also states that Mr Kasab and his fellow gunmen were visited by Major General Sahab while attending an LeT training camp in Pakistan. The Major, whose real name is unknown, was said to have given the go-ahead for the Mumbai atrocity as part of the war to liberate Kashmir from Indian rule. He was saluted in military fashion by senior LeT commanders, the confessional statement said.

Mr Kasab, who is short and slightly built, entered the courtroom dressed in a blue-and-grey jumper and dirty blue tracksuit trousers with a swagger and said “Good morning, sir,” to the judge before turning to the mass of reporters covering the trial and smiling.

His demeanour changed, however, from cocky to sullen, after he held a brief meeting in private with his lawyer.

Mr Kazmi opened the proceedings by claiming that his client was illiterate and unsure of his date of birth, but was sure that he had been under the age of 17 on November 26, the first night of the attacks.

Being below 18 would have meant that Mr Kasab would not be eligible for the death sentence, under India’s 2002 Juvenile Justice Act, and would have forced the transfer of the trial to a juvenile court. Judge M. L. Tahiliyani asked Mr Kasab to stand up in the dock. “As one looks at accused No1, it does not appear that he is below 17 years,” the judge said.

The court also heard that Mr Kasab had previously given his age as 21 on a confessional statement and to the jail authorities.

Mr Kasab is yet to enter a plea. The trial continues.

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