But later he named Ishrat Jahan as LeT operative who was involved in an operation about shooting police at “some naka”.
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He told the court that a person, whom he identified as Abu Dujuna introduced him to Muzammil.
Deposing before the court, Headley confirmed that there was a woman wing in LeT, but earlier he had denied involvement of any woman suicide bomber in LeT when asked by Ujjwal Nikam.
June 15, 2004: Ishrat Jahan and three others were killed in a police encounter in the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch claimed that all four were terrorists involved in a plot to kill Narendra Modi.
Subsequently investigations revealed in 2009 that the shooting was staged. The Gujarat Government’s petition in the High Court against Tamang’s report said that it should be scrapped as it was “illegal and doubtful”.
Headley also told the court that he had done surveillance of key locations in Mumbai like the Naval Air Station, the Siddhivinayak temple and the state police headquarters on Lashkar’s instructions. Tamang said that there was no evidence to link the victims with the LeT. There was also nothing to indicate that they had come to Gujarat to kill Modi.
BJP leader, Nalin Kohli, added that although Headley had made similar statements in 2013, “there was no attempt to accept the truth as it was”. Headely also said he received all the amount for terror strike in India from the Nariman Branch ofthe Indus Bank. He also received various smaller sums of money every few months, often in counterfeit Indian notes from Major Iqbal.
Besides Abdul Rehman Pasha, also from ISI, gave me Rs 80,000, Headley said.
Before my visit to India, I received $25,000 from ISI’s Major Iqbal and 40,000 Pakistani rupees from Sajid Mir. “In actuality, it was the state actors, the Pakistani Army which actually launched the military operation against India”, Major General (retired) P.K. Sehgal told. “Iqbal told me that if Rana was reluctant to be associated with this (Headley’s India operations) then he (Headley) should appeal to his (Rana’s) sense of patriotism towards Pakistan”, he testified. Headley said Rana had visited Mumbai before the attack and that he asked Rana to return to safety in the US.
Interestingly, his visa consultant in Chicago, Raymond Sanders – who had earlier assisted him in procuring an Indian visa with false information – also helped him in the RBI formality, but the country’s apex bank rejected the application on June 1, 2007. However, RBI turned down the request, he said.
According to PTI, India might ask Pakistan to try Headley before one of its courts via video-conferencing.
Headley said, “Rana also visited Mumbai just before 26/11 attacks and he had advised the latter to leave India”.
But the plan to target scientists was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personnel and lack of details about the schedule of the meet, he said.
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He said the LeT group as a whole is responsible for the terror attacks in India and it can be speculated that all orders come from Lakhvi since he is its “top commander”.
