Mumbai/London, November 27: US terror suspect David Headley had conducted a detailed recce of Nariman House before the Mumbai carnage and even entered the targeted Jewish Centre posing as a Jew, official sources said on Thursday.
The new detail of Headley’s movement in this western metropolis prior to the 26/11 attack comes following the evidence that the US national had also visited and stayed at Taj and Oberoi here – the two luxury hotels which were attacked.
Official sources said statements of some of the witnesses who had either seen or accompanied Headley to Nariman House have been recorded.
The attack by Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) terrorists last year in the five-storeyed house, which can be approached only through narrow lanes and by-lanes of Colaba, had left the security agencies without any doubt that a proper recce had been conducted before the strike.
Now after Headley’s arrest, things appear to be falling in place with the central security agencies tracing people who had taken him to Nariman House.
Posing as a Jew
One of the witnesses, whose statement has been recorded, told the investigators that Headley went inside the house and posed as a Jew and interacted with the inmates for a long time.
The American investigators, after arresting Headley at the Chicago airport last month, had recovered a book ‘How to pray like Jews’ from him.
Another witness in his statement recalls that Headley had taken a round with him around the area to ascertain the entry and exit points of the Nariman House, sources said.
Six of the occupants including Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his five-month pregnant wife Rivka were killed by Lashkar militants.
Headley had stayed at the Oberoi for four days in April last year despite staying as a paying guest in Mumbai. Thirty people were killed in the terror strikes at Oberoi and Trident hotel.
Headley had stayed in the Taj Mahal hotel which witnessed the longest battle between the LeT terrorists and security personnel. 80 people were killed here.
Meanwhile, British authorities have claimed that they had tipped off the Americans about Headley.
Quoting sources, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported that British authorities collected vital information that identified Headley, a US citizen living in Chicago and also known as Daood Gilani.
According to a US indictment, Headley, arrested in October, was a freelance reconnaissance agent for terrorist groups including LeT, the group behind the 26/11 attacks.
–Agencies