Mumbai : Atulchandra Kulkarni, who was posted with the Mumbai Intelligence Bureau (IB) in 2008 when the terror attacks took place, on Thursday said that they would analyse new particulars thrown up by David Coleman Headley once his deposition was over and would try to utilise them in the ongoing trial to make the 26/11 case stronger.
“The deposition continues tomorrow (on Friday). Once the deposition is over, we will analyse the new particulars thrown up by him and will try to utilise them in the ongoing trial to make our case stronger,” he said.
Headley deposed before the 26/11 trial court in Mumbai through video conferencing for the third day on Thursday.
Kulkarni said Headley during his deposition revealed a lot of important names connected with the LeT, which was instrumental in materialising the attack.
“Besides this, a lot of other details have been revealed by Headley during his deposition, including particulars about how many times he carried about recce (reconnaissance) for fixing the landing site; how much money he received from number of people, including Dr. Tahawwur Rana, who was his principal in the firm that he had established in Mumbai as a cover activity,” said Kulkarni.
When asked whether Headley’s mentioning the landing sites and other details would bolster the case, he said surely he mentioned that he took the survey boat rides from Gateway of India; from the landing site, which came to be finally selected – Badhwar Park, Colaba; and one from Worli – so obviously that would be more useful in the case.
Responding to a poser about Headley calling Ishrat Jahan an LeT operative, he 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. (ANI)