It was some shootout with the police. “All I know… is that my sister was innocent”. “He had stayed with a woman named Samraz Akhtar Rana, who was believed to be his wife in a hotel in a posh area of the city” said a senior police official.
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The police alleged that Ishrat and her associates were LeT operatives, who were plotting to assassinate the then Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
When Ishrat Jahan was shot along with three men in 2004 in Gujarat, she was 19 years old.
The Congress sought to distinguish between Jahan’s possibility of being a terrorist, and her death in a fake encounter.
– LeT was unhappy that Mumbai airport was not selected and included as one of the targets in 26/11 terror attack.
Continuing his deposition for the fourth day, Headley claimed he discouraged the LeT about Naval air station and Siddhivinayak temple as targets for the attack as they were heavily guarded. “Muzammil Bhatt was the head of our group before Sajid Mir”, he told the court.
Giving details of his funding, Headley said, “Before coming to India in September 2006, he received Dollars 25,000 from ISI’s Major Iqbal”.
“A LeT woman operative named Ishrat Jahan was involved”.
Each one of the terrorists were carrying with them identification cards bearing names such as Sameer Chaudhary etc.
– When showed Ajmal Kasab’s photo in court, Headley responds saying ‘Yes, this is the picture of Ajmal Kasab Rehmatullah Aleh (Ajmal Kasab, may god bless his soul)’. “At that time we had said that these people will fall flat on their faces and the same thing has happened”, Sena MP Sanjay Raut said.
The Express Tribune reported that Malik, who was interior minister when Mumbai attack occurred, accused India of trying to defame Pakistan by concocting confessions out of Headley.
He also said that he knew Al-Qaeda’s Ilyas Kashmiri and had met him once.
Also, Major Iqbal gave me counter it Indian currency once or twice in 2008, he said.
“Headley has only repeated what he had first said in Chicago”.
“David Headley deposition has exposed Pakistan but we still want to maintain cordial relationship with the neighbouring country”, he had said.
Speaking about his tryst with the fringe outfit, he had said that he joined the unit in 2002 after getting inspired by Saeed’s speech, who urged them to carry a jihad against India. It was a part of my cover (as an immigration consultant).
“I also told Rana that Major Iqbal had asked me to do intelligence work in India. Even then, we would like to have a very cordial relationship with Pakistan”, Singh told the media. “Due to this, a number of cops had to go to jail”, he said.
As more information surfaces about how the brazen Mumbai attacks were planned, Headley’s role as a crucial planner of the attack becomes clearer.
Headley told the court that he recede India eight times before the attack and once after that. Headley’s arrest led the Federal Bureau of Investigation to Rana.
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Headley could not testify yesterday because of a technical snag in video conferencing.
