NIA was aware of Ishrat’s LeT association: Sources

Speaking to Millennium Post on condition of anonymity, this official said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was already aware of Ishrat’s association with LeT but deliberately kept it under wraps. Earlier on Thursday, the American Pakistani terrorist David Headley told a special court in Mumbai that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an encounter in 2004 by Gujarat police, was a Lashkar-i-Toiba (LeT) operator.

This official claimed that soon after Headley’s arrest in US, a team of NIA officials visited the country and recorded his statement. “During his interrogation with NIA officials Headley had made the same admission,” said the official. Speaking on the coordination between SIT and NIA, the official said: “The SIT kept asking the investigating agency to share Headley’s statements. However, they refused to share the details.”

When confronted with this , NIA’s Inspector General Sanjeev Singh said that there was some information which was of a confidential nature and couldn’t be shared. He refused to comment on Headley’s new revelation.    

On the third day of his deposition, Headley said that Jammat-ud-Dawa chief and 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi told him about a botched up operation in India by Muzzamil Butt and that there was a shootout at a naka (check-point) and a woman was killed. Headley also said: “Later, I checked with Muzzamil, who told me that there was a female member of the LeT killed in a police shootout at a naka. Exact place I cannot recall.”

Prior to naming Ishrat, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam put two specific questions to Headley, asking if there were female suicide bombers in the Lashkar, and if he could name a female suicide bomber. To both these queries, Headley replied in the negative.

Subsequently, Headley was asked if there was a ‘botched up’ operation in India. While Headley replied in the affirmative, he said that he heard about it when he was listening to a conversation between (LeT senior commanders) Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Muzzamil Bhat.