Mumbai: Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today revealed that after Mumbai terror attacks, he had surveyed sensitive military establishments in Pune which LeT wanted to attack.
When asked by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam what military establishments he referred to, Headley readily said it was the (Indian Army's) Southern Command Headquarters.
"The intentions here were similar to the nuclear establishments (BARC). The ISI wanted to recruit military officers and get 'classified information' from them," Headley told during his deposition on the sixth day.
"Earlier too, Major Iqbal had also asked me to visit this place. At that time, I had made a general video of the (Army) station from outside," he added.
He surveyed and videographed the Southern Command HQ Building between March 16-17, 2009, preceded by recce of Chabad Houses in Goa on March 15 and earlier Pushkar between March 11-13 that year - nearly four months after the terror attacks were executed in Mumbai on November 26-28, 2008.
The Pune assignment was carried out at the behest of Major Iqbal of the ISI, to whom the videos were later handed over.
Headley further said that his handlers told him that ‘nothing will happen against' Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and Hafiz Saeed and that actions taken by Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency against them and other LeT members in 26/11 case are "superficial"
The LeT operative also revealed details of e-mails between him and his main contact Sajid Mir. "From July 3, 2009 to September 11, 2009, there was an exchange of emails between me and Sajid Mir of LeT. I had time and again expressed concerns about the safety of the leadership of LeT," he told the court.
"From December 2008 onwards, after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, the Pakistan government was conducting investigations, interrogating people and pursuing people from the LeT which is why I wanted to know if Hafiz Sahab and Zaki Sahab were safe," he added.
Headley also said that Mir had replied to his e-mails and said that "Zaki Sahab is doing fine.... His morale is high even though he was in prison (at that time) and he was not depressed."
Headley and Mir had referred to Hafiz Saeed as the "older uncle" and Zaki as the "younger uncle" in the e-mails using code language.
The court was told that on August 20, 2009 Headley had sent a mail to Mir asking if "older uncle" (Hafiz) was also under investigation and would be arrested to which Mir replied after three days saying that "the older uncle is fit and healthy and is moving back and forth for his business" even as Mir asked Headley to not put ears to rumours.
Yesterday, Headley told the court that al-Qaeda was in touch with him to attack Delhi's National Defence College and unravelled the plot by LeT and ISI to target Mumbai airport, BARC and the Naval air station here.
With Agency Inputs
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