In a special court in Mumbai, Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Toiba operative, David Coleman Headley said that Pakistani terrorists attempted twice to attack Mumbai before the 26/11 attacks, but did not succeed.
The 55 year old Headley admitted that his handler Sajid Mir, instructed him to travel to the United States of America in 2006 and change his name from Dawood Gilani to David Headley, to enter India and set up a business.
Headley was testifying before a Mumbai court, via video link from an undisclosed location in the US. He has said about "my colleagues in the Lashkar," and particularly a handler called Sajid Mir, who he said was his main point of contact in the terror group, though he even met others.
Headley clarified in the court that he came to Mumbai, seven times before the 26/11 attacks, mostly from Pakistan and once from the UAE. He visited India once after the attacks from Lahore.
As named by Abu Jundal previously, who is being tried in Mumbai, three Pakistani officials had played a key role in the attack, Headley said, in a questioning by National Investigation Agency earlier and in a US court.
Testimony of David Headley is expected to expose the role of terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who roams free in Pakistan and terrorist Abu Jundal who is facing trial in India and was identified by the lone 26/11 terrorist captured alive, Ajmal Kasab, as his handler.
Headley was pardoned by the Mumbai court, in December 2015, after he turned approver as a prosecution witness. He has accepted the court's conditions that included the disclosure of the "full and true facts" leading to the 26/11 attacks and his role in it.
Reacting to the issue, public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam said, “For the first time in Indian legal history, a foreign terrorist would give evidence through video links. His evidence may unfold many things behind the 26/11 terror attack. David Headley may give the broader aspect of criminal conspiracy, why the conspiracy was hatched and the people behind it.”
Headley is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the terror attacks.
By Phani Ch
