MUMBAI: Pakistani American terrorist David Coleman Headley today disclosed before an anti-terror court here that LeT chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed had told him prior to the Mumbai terror attacks that Shiv Sena chief late Bal Thackeray "needed to be taught a lesson".
After hearing this (that Thackeray needed to be taught a lesson), Headley had told Saeed that this would be done, he said.
To a question, he said he had not requested for any time "to accomplish this task", but said "it would take six months".
Yesterday, Headley had revealed that he had "arranged" a fund-raising programme for the Shiv Sena in the US and had planned to invite Thackeray to the event.
The 55-year-old LeT operative, who has turned approver in the case, said that Sena man Rajaram Rege had told him that "Thackeray was sick and so may be his son and other officials may attend the programme."
Earlier this week, Headley had told the court that terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) wanted to eliminate Thackeray but the person who was assigned the job to kill the Sena chief was arrested and he managed to give police the slip.
"We wanted to target the chief of Shiv Sena... His name was Bal Thackeray. LeT wanted to kill him wherever a chance arose. I knew that Bal Thackeray was the head of Shiv Sena. I have no firsthand knowledge but I think an attempt was made by LeT to kill Bal Thackeray," he had said.
"I don't know how this attempt was made. I think the person (who was sent to kill Thackeray) was arrested but he managed to escape from police custody. I don't have firsthand knowledge about this though," Headley had told Judge G A Sanap, who is hearing the 26/11 terror case against Abu Jundal in the sessions court here.
Here are the top developments so far:
1. I visited Sena Bhavan and residence of Bal Thackeray to do a surveillance where I met some of the guards at the gates of the perimeter of his residence.
2. I also did surveillance on the CBI HQ Tanna House and Maharashtra Assembly but not on the Israel Embassy.
3. During my interrogation, NIA was showing me photographs with names on them. They showed me around 6-7 photographs, but after US prosecutor's objection, they started showing me photographs without names.
4. But it is not correct that I identified photos in this court on the basis of those photos shown to me by NIA.
5. Lakhvi introduced me to Muzammil Bhatt in 2006 as a top commander of LeT and told me that he has done Akshardham and Ishrat Jahan cases: Headley.
6. Lakhvi told me about Ishrat Jahan case but I was having prior knowledge about Ishrat Jahan case through newspapers.
7. NIA has recorded my statement in different words what I told them. I never told NIA that Lakhvi introduced me to Muzammil as a top commander whose every big operation was a fail.
8. I can't explain why NIA did not record my statement in exact words. They never read out that statement to me after recording.
9. How can I explain why someone else made a mistake (on why NIA did not record his statement in his exact words).
10. I didn't tell NIA that Lakhvi sarcastically told me that Muzammil was a top commander whose operations were a failure.
11. Yes, I told NIA that there was a women wing in LeT and Mother of Abu Aiman was the head of that.
Abdul Wahab Khan, the lawyer of Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, one of the prime accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack is cross-examining Headley and Special Public Prosecutor in the case Ujjwal Nikam is also present.
(With inputs from ANI)