David Headley plotted to kill Bal Thackeray
David Coleman Headley, the 26/11 Pakistani-American conspirator now testifying in a US court in the trial of his friend and suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana, on Tuesday said he plotted to kill Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.
On the second day of the trial, Headley testified that his handlers in Pakistan?s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) conspired to assassin Thackeray in US.
Pleading guilty before the court, he said Shiv Sena was a ?terrorist outfit? for him and his Pakistani handlers.
He said ISI?s Maj Iqbal, LeT?s Sajid Mir, Pasha, Rana and he himself shared hatred towards the Senas.
Headley testified that he communicated with Shiv Sena?s Public Relations Officer Rajaram Rege in an effort to penetrate into the party.
“We have discussed. This man (Reggie) was very important and would have given us access to this organization (Shiv Sena),” he said.
They plotted to kill Thackeray when he would be travelling to the US with his son Uddhav.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Thackeray said he is not afraid of Headley.
?We are not afraid of Headley or his assassination threats,? said Thackeray.
Headley, a conspirator of the Nov 2008 attack on India?s financial capital that killed over 160 people, including six Americans, testified against his former schoolmate Rana who allegedly provided logistical support during his [ Headley’s] recon missions.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker said that the 50-year-old Rana provided cover for Headley by helping him pose as a representative for his Chicago-based immigration business while Headley took photos and videos of targets in Mumbai.
Rana’s attorneys have portrayed Headley as a master manipulator who tricked his friend.
David Coleman Headley on Monday in the Chicago court spilled the beans on Pakistan’s military spy agency Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) saying it provided financial and military support to terrorists behind the Mumbai attack.
He also admitted that Pakistan-based Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the Jama’at-ud-Da’wah, a frontal organization of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, motivated him in the Mumbai attack planning.