Ishrat's family, lawyer raise questions
13 Feb 2016 4:33 AM IST
The family and the lawyer of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat, on Thursday raised questions over David Coleman Headley's testimony that she was an LeT operative, saying this was for the "political benefit of some big people" whose names have been "besmirched."
Musarrat, the sister of the 19-year-old college girl, and lawyer Vrinda Grover claimed that she had no terror links, hours after the Pakistani-American terrorist's deposition in a special court over a videolink from the US in the 26/11 case. Grover also questioned prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam's tactics in the special court here, saying certain questions put to Headley by him had nothing to do with the Mumbai attack case and alleged they can have a "political relevance." Musarrat expressed surprise over the claim made by Headley and said investigations have proved she was innocent but killed in a "fake encounter". "It has been proved in investigations that it was a fake encounter...My sister, Ishrat, was innocent. She was killed...it was a fake encounter and a political conspiracy," she said in Mumbai.
Headley bares all on terror funding by ISI
Making fresh disclosures on the brazen 26/11 attacks, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Thursday exposed how the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes.
Resuming his deposition before a court here via video-link after a day's break due to a technical glitch at the US end on Wednesday, the LeT operative said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had turned down his request to open a bank account for their office in India.
Giving details of his funding, he said, "Before coming to India in September 2006, he received $25,000 from ISI's Major Iqbal." "I also got 40,000 in Pakistani currency from LeT operative Sajid Mir between April and June 2008," he told the court, adding that Major Iqbal used to regularly send him money in instalments. Also, Major Iqbal gave me counterfeit Indian currency once or twice in 2008, he said.
Besides Abdul Rehman Pasha, also from ISI, gave me Rs 80,000, Headley said.
"Tahawur Rana (Headley's associate and a Pakistani native who operated a Chicago-based immigration business) used to send me money from the US in September 2006 when I came to India to do intelligence work on instructions of the LeT," he told the court.
The 55-year-old, who recently turned approver in the case, also said that "it was my idea to open an office in India. It was a part of my cover (as an immigration consultant). I had discussed about this with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir and they both agreed to it."
"I also told Rana that Major Iqbal had asked me to do intelligence work in India. Iqbal told me that if Rana was reluctant to be associated with this (Headley's India operations), then he (Headley) should appeal to his (Rana's) sense of patriotism towards Pakistan," he testified.
"But Rana was not reluctant and he agreed readily for me to go to India," Headley said. Headley also revealed that Rana had visited Mumbai before the terror attacks.
"I advised Rana to leave India before the attacks as I was afraid that he would be in danger," Headley said.
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