New Delhi  - An Indian court on Friday ordered medical tests to determine the age of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone gunman suspect captured during the November
2008 assault on Mumbai, news reports said.

Special Judge ML Tahilyani's order came after Kasab's lawyer contended that the suspect be tried as a juvenile on grounds that he was 17 years old, the IANS news agency reported.

The judge said a doctor would carry out dental and bone examinations to find Kasab's true age.

The court, which is conducting the trial in the heavily-guarded Arthur Road jail premises, directed that the reports be submitted by April 28.

Public Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam had challenged the defence contention and said Kasab had given his age as 21 on three different occasions - once to the police and jail authorities, then to a doctor who examined him and the third time to a magistrate whom he gave his confessional statement.

The trial against Kasab, the main accused in the November 26-29 Mumbai terrorist attack case in which over 170 people were killed, began April 15.

Kasab, allegedly a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organization, is being tried along with two Indian suspects in the case.

Indian police have filed an 11,000-page charge sheet against 38 people including Kasab.

The charges allege key planners of the assaults included Pakistan-based LET leaders Hafeez Sayyid, Fahim Ansari, Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah. (dpa)