Lashkar Attempted Attack On Bal Thackeray, David Headley Tells Court

Terrorist David Coleman Headley told a Mumbai court today that Shiv Sena patriarch late Balasaheb Thackeray was targeted by the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) on two occasions.

An earlier attempt by the Lashkar to kill Mr Thackeray had failed and one person was apprehended by the police, but he escaped, said Headley, who is being cross examined via video link on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

“From what I recall the accused was held by the police but he later escaped,” Headley, the 26/11 accused turned approver told the court, adding that his Lashkar handler Sajid Mir instructed him to target the Shiv Sena chief.

Earlier during his testimony, when questioned by public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley had said that the “Shiv Sena chief” was the target. He however had not specified nor was he asked further regarding the operation.

On Wednesday, Headley also told the court that he was never paid for the work he did for the Lashkar. Rather it was he who had pumped into the LeT about Rs. 70 lakh in Pakistani currency.

Headley, a US national, is serving a 35-year jail sentence in his country for the 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008 in which 166 people were killed. On multiple visits to Mumbai he had recced sites to be attacked.

Headley began testifying in the Mumbai court from an undisclosed location in the US last month. He has told the court that he also worked for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and had met members of the Pakistani Army.

Headley is now being questioned by the lawyer of Abu Jundal, a key 26/11 plotter now in jail in India and against whom he had deposed last month. The cross-examination, which began yesterday will continue till Saturday.