MUMBAI: Shamima Kausar, the mother of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004, said on Thursday that David Headley’s deposition was aimed at saving someone.
“I feel there is a conspiracy to defame my daughter in order to save someone,” she told ANI. “Who would know it better than a mother that how good her daughter was? My daughter was a very nice and kind person, and could not kill anyone, said Kausar.
“It’s a conspiracy to defame my daughter, who was killed in a fake encounter. She was murdered,” she added.
Deposing before the 26/11 trial court through video conferencing, David Headley informed the court that Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative.
Atulchandra Kulkarni, who was posted with the Mumbai Intelligence Bureau (IB) in 2008 when the terror attacks took place, said: “He (Headley) did mention about the failed operation of LeT in Gujarat at a picket, where an Indian woman Ishrat Jahan, who is an Let operative, got killed.”
However, Ishrat Jahan’s lawyer Vrinda Grover said that Headley’s version was not evidence as per Indian law as he was given a ‘multiple choice question’ by a ‘Padma Shri’ lawyer, which was downplayed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
Ishrat, who was from Mumbra in Mumbai, was shot dead along with three men in Gujarat in 2004 by police officers, who claimed that they were terrorists involved in a plot to kill Narendra Modi, then the chief minister.