Mumbai: Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Saturday claimed he came to know about Ishrat Jahan's 'operation' from LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and from the media and that he had no "personal knowledge" about her.
Headley, who testified before an anti-terror court here in the 26/11 case during his cross-examination on the fourth day, claimed that he had told NIA that "a female member who had died in an encounter in India was Ishrat Jahan" and other things but could not say why they were not recorded by the agency.
"Yes, I did tell NIA that the female LeT operator who died was Ishrat. I told them there was a women's wing in LeT which was headed by Abu Aiman's mother. The said woman was an Indian national. I had read about Ishrat in newspapers," Headley said.
However, he went back on a part of his statement to the NIA, saying that he did not tell the probe agency about Lakhvi informing him that "Ishrat Jahan module" was a "botched-up operation" and added that "these were my thoughts".
"When Lakhvi introduced Muzammil Bhat to me, he told me that he (Bhat) is one of the top LeT commanders and has done some operations like Akshardham temple, Ishrat Jahan etc... the rest were my thoughts... I came to know about Ishrat Jahan from media. These are my thoughts as to why Ishrat Jahan operation resulted in failure," Headley said
"No, I did not say this to NIA and cannot assign any reason why it has been so recorded," he told Judge GA Sanap.
The 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the 26/11 case, is being cross-examined by Abdul Wahab Khan, the lawyer of Jundal who is an alleged key plotter of the 2008 Mumbai siege, via a video-link from the US.
NIA had recorded Headley's statement in the US in July, 2010.On whether NIA read out the statement to him, Headley said, "No" and added that the agency just took down the notes.
To a question, the Lashkar operative, who has been convicted in the US for his role in the 26/11 attacks, said neither he had requested the NIA for a copy of the statement nor did they provide it to him.
He also said that this is for the first time that he was being shown his statement in the court.
Headley said he told NIA that before Sajid Mir, Muzammil was the head of the group (LeT).
Headley was then confronted with his own statement asking him why information about Bhat has not been recorded. To this, Headley said he cannot explain this.
He also told Khan that he had told NIA about an "unsuccesful operation near police naka in India" but could not explain as to why it has not been recorded in his statement.
(With PTI inputs)
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