“His name was Bal Thackeray”, said Headley when the defence lawyer asked him the objective of his visit to Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar.
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Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison term in the USA for his role in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people in 2008, told the court that his father was aware of his association with terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In December previous year, Headley agreed to turn approver or witness for the prosecution in the 26/11 case being heard in Mumbai, in exchange for a pardon.
He refused to answer questions regarding his communications with Shazia, but accepted that in the emails exchanged between the two, Shazia had referred to the coverage of 26/11 attacks as “watching cartoons”, and told Headley that she was “proud of him”. When asked by Khan as to how much money he had spent on his visit and reconnaissance in India prior to 26/11 attacks, Headley said, “I am not sure…”
When prodded by Khan if what Kasab had done (by participating in 26/11 attacks) was good or bad and if the act of 26/11 was good deed or a bad deed, Headley said, “Of course the act of murder is not going to be a good act”.
“I have this hatred towards India since December 7, 1971, when Indian planes bombed my school & people who worked there died”, media reports quoting Headley as saying to the court. Earlier, the Pakistani-American had said that the LeT tried to kill Thackeray, a hugely influential figure in Maharashtra politics who died in 2012. The defence wanted this word to be interpreted as an affirmation to his question, but Headley said that it was “advocate Abdul Wahab’s imagination”.
“Since childhood I have hatred against India and Indians and I wanted to cause maximum loss and damage. I have no first-hand knowledge, but I think an attempt was made to kill him”, Headley said.
The 55-year-old has made a number of revelations during his cross-examination – conducted by Abdul Wahab Khan, the lawyer of Abu Jundal, an alleged key plotter of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
“LeT wanted to eliminate Shiv Sena chief…”
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On whether Thackeray knew about the programme, Headley retorted, “How can I know this?” Headley could not furnish any further details about this attempt. “The man who made the attempt had escaped from police custody”, Headley told the special court of additional sessions judge GA Sanap.
