[Headley said his handlers were elated to see footage of Sena Bhavan; they were definitely seeing it as a prospective target. He then made a statement against the Sena, relating what his handlers thought of the party. Additional sessions judge GA Sanap was in the middle of recording the statement when SPP Nikam raised a concern, saying the media shouldn't report it on the ground it might lead to a law and order situation. Otherwise, he said, he'd ensure the proceedings are done in-camera. The judge hesitated at first, but concurred with Nikam eventually. The media was orally directed not to reproduce the statement. It was not taken on record, either.]
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/crime/Headley-invokes-blessing-on-Kasab/articleshow/50969408.cms HEADLEY INVOKES BLESSING ON KASAB Mumbai Mirror | Feb 13, 2016, 01.53 AM IST Mumbai Mirror Bureau Deposing for the fifth day, Headley utters 'Rehmatullah Ali' after identifying him in a photo; but says it means 'Forgive him, Lord'. On the fifth day of his deposition via video conference before a sessions court in Mumbai, 26/11 terrorist-turned-approver David Headley (pictured) invoked god to bless Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist hanged to death for the 2008 siege on Mumbai in which 166 people were massacred. "Yes, that is Ajmal Kasab, Rehmatullah Ali (God bless him)," Headley said, while identifying Kasab in a photo. Asked what the words meant, he lied, "'Forgive him, oh Lord'." This part of the statement was not taken on record. Hearing in the case started as usual, at 7.30am, with Headley deposing from a prison in the US, his lawyers and another US representative by his side. On one occasion, when special public prosecutor (SPP) Ujjwal Nikam was consulting his assistant, the defence raised an objection with the US representative. During the entire testimony, Headley kept referring to documents, with Nikam at times pointing out the page and even the line to him. Defence lawyer Abdul Wahab pointed out that in some places, as per procedure, Headley's referring to documents was not being taken on record. Headley revealed details about terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) plan to attack the Shiv Sena headquarters in Dadar; and the work he did for al-Qaeda in reconnoitring the National Defense College premises in Delhi and the Chabad House centres in Pushkar, Pune and Goa. He said LeT chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi had categorically told him 26/11 was vendetta for all the blasts India had caused in Pakistan. Giving details of the plan, Headley said he visited Siddhivinayak Temple and purchased 15-20 red and yellow religious threads outside, to be given to the 10 attackers for disguise. "Just like this one." Nikam said, holding up his hand to display the thread he was wearing. The judge later pointed out that Hindus wore the thread, along with a tika, and that he wore the thread too. Headley smiled in agreement. The idea was his, not his handlers', he said. Headley wanted to befriend Sena man Nikam then asked him about the 'friends' he made while scouting for terror locations in Mumbai. Headley spoke about how he met Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul Bhatt, who works as a gym trainer. He mentioned his meetings with Rajaram Rege, who at the time claimed to be the public relations officer of Uddhav Thackeray, the current Shiv Sena chief. Headley said he met Rege for the first time at Sena Bhavan, hoping to befriend him. "I thought in future LeT would be interested in attacking Sena Bhavan, or assassinating its head (Bal Thackeray, who was alive at the time)." ***Headley said his handlers were elated to see footage of Sena Bhavan; they were definitely seeing it as a prospective target. He then made a statement against the Sena, relating what his handlers thought of the party. Additional sessions judge GA Sanap was in the middle of recording the statement when SPP Nikam raised a concern, saying the media shouldn't report it on the ground it might lead to a law and order situation. Otherwise, he said, he'd ensure the proceedings are done in-camera. The judge hesitated at first, but concurred with Nikam eventually. The media was orally directed not to reproduce the statement. It was not taken on record, either.*** [Emphasis added.] This comes a day after the Ishrat Jahan fiasco, where soon after the hearing, Nikam and the Gujarat police made tall claims on the basis of a multiple choice question asked to Headley. On another occasion, Headley said they wanted classified information from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), from where Maj Iqbal from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) wanted to recruit people. Speaking about the attack, Headley said they went for the stronghold attack instead of the egress attack, in which the attacker flees the target location. He was told the egress attack made more sense, since otherwise the assailants would keep thinking about deserting the place of attack, rather than focusing on inflicting damage. Taking about one of his wives, Headley said Faiza had approached Hafeez Saeed, the chief of terror ensemble Jamaat-ud-Dawa, just a few months before the attack, requesting him to tell Headley to take her back. But Headley told Saeed that he was too busy with Lashkar activities. On the last day if the siege, November 28, 2008, Headley received a congratulatory mail from his wife Shazia in Chicago. "Congratulations on your graduation, the ceremony was really great," the mail read. For all five days of the proceedings, during the course of which Headley named Ishrat Jahan as an LeT operative, lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, who has at some point represented BJP president Amit Shah, was present in court. He said he was there because Headley had consulted him in the US. His presence was not marked in the court's record. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. 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