Bharat Rakshak

Rangudu wrote: The whole Headley saga reeks of malafide intentions by Unkil. If it is matter of protecting DEA sources, that could have been arranged as part of dealings between friendly powers. However, Unkil also wants to protect TSPA officers and thus the whole song and dance.

The questioning of American jihadi David Coleman Headley by Indian sleuths in Chicago is unlikely to throw up fresh leads but officials here rejected reports that the terrorist could invoke ‘Fifth Amendment’ to refuse answering questions.

‘Fifth Amendment’ provides rights to a person under US law which guarantees that no one can be forced to be witness against himself/herself in a criminal case. Officials said the Lashkar jihadi cannot invoke this right in the 12 cases, including 26/11 terror attack, for which he has pleaded guilty.

Citing Waiver of Rights clause of the plea agreement between Headley and the US government, an official said, “He has surrendered certain rights, including the one under Fifth Amendment. The waivers are clearly mentioned in the agreement.”

Besides ‘trial rights’ including the privilege against self-incrimination, Headley — originally known as Daood Gilani — has also surrendered his rights of appeal and collateral.

The ‘Waiver of Rights’ section of the plea agreement gives details of these rights, saying, “Defendant (Headley) understands that by pleading guilty he is waiving all the rights set forth in the prior paragraphs. Defendant’s attorneys have explained those rights to him, and the consequences of his waiver of those rights.”

Officials said they had thoroughly examined the ‘plea agreement’ document before sending the NIA team to Chicago. However, they accepted that Headley could invoke ‘Fifth Amendment’ in cases which were not related to those 12 counts — meaning it would be impossible for Indian sleuths to extract anything from him beyond 26/11.

The team has managed to interrogate Headley for several hours, but not a single fresh lead has cropped up as yet. On one hand, Headley cites the law, and on the other, he speaks just what he had confessed at the plea bargain in March 2010.

It has been a bad start for the Indian team and they are getting stuck in legalities. Headley had quoted the Fifth Amendment of the American justice system, which states that a person who has opted for a plea bargain cannot be forced to implicate himself during interrogation.

While the Indian team has been insisting that it would not apply to Headley, he continues to insist during interrogation that it does.

ramana wrote:The fact that he is invoking the Fifth Amendment means he is hiding stuff about the subject of the plea bargain itself. US is being too clever by half and is losing its credibility.

...

Lashkar-e-Toiba operative and 26/11 attack accused David Coleman Headley has told his Indian interrogators about his handlers, including terror suspects Sajjid Mir, Syed Abdur Rehman Syed, intelligence agents Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali.

He has also talked about the involvement of Mohammed Illyas Kashmiri in planning the Mumbai attacks and the larger Lashkar aim to target India.

Top government sources said Headley has given National Investigation Agency (NIA) interrogators, led by 1985-batch Kerala cadre IG-rank officer Lokanath Behera, considerable insight...

Headley shared details after he was assured that his revelations would not be used against him. "Contrary to reports, Headley has been cooperating with Indian investigators and is coming out with detailed insights into the terror network in Pakistan," said a senior official.

Sources said Headley was questioned in the presence of FBI agents and his lawyers by three NIA investigators and a lawyer on June 1 and 2 in Chicago. After setting the ground rules, the Indian team was left alone from June 3. The team has got considerable information from Headley about his visits to India during 2006-2009 and his surveillance of targets, including those attacked during 26/11 and the Chabad houses.

The Indian team plans to complete his questioning on June 9 and return to New Delhi after briefing Indian Ambassador to US Meera Shanker. Sources said Headley has been questioned about the roles of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Yusuf Muzammil and other operational commanders.

MUMBAI: "Once the bombing of Islamabad's Marriot Hotel came up in our discussion and he remarked that such attacks would come to India too," said gym trainer Rahul Bhatt about David Headley who is being interrogated in the US by India's National Investigating Agency (NIA) about his role in 26/11.

Two months after the Marriot blast, caused by a suicide bomber who had driven a bomb-laden truck into the hotel, came 26/11, for which Headley has confessed to gathering information.

"With us though, he was a friend. Even looking back now, we can say that he never used us in any way," said Bhatt and his friend Vilas Warak, also a gym trainer. "He never asked to be taken any place or to be introduced to anyone. Once he wanted us to accompany him to Pune for a trip to Osho Ashram but Vilas woke up late that Sunday so Headley went there on his own," said Bhatt.

"A month after 26/11, Headley called up from abroad and enquired about our well-being and asked whether all our relatives were safe. 'You should kick the asses of those who did this', he said," remembers Bhatt.

"We met occasionally on Sundays and went out for dinner or a movie," said Warak. "Some Marathi newspapers said we went to dance bars which is ridiculous because all of us are teetotalers," said Warak. In fact, Bhatt and Warak spoke to this correspondent on Friday at a Bandra cafe where they spent several evenings with Headley. Most of the trio's visits were to restaurants and movie halls in the Western suburbs, except for one when they had lunch at the Sea Lounge at Taj Mahal hotel, the prime target of 26/11.

Warak first interacted Headley at the upmarket Moksh gym at Breach Candy when he noticed him doing a particular exercise with the wrong action and corrected him. Headley and Warak hit it off although the only thing common to them was a passion for body-building. Warak even took him to a competition at Shivaji Mandir near Plaza where he (Warak) was crowned Mr Mumbai 2008.

Warak introduced Headley to Bhatt and the three met on weekends. "We loved action movies and even saw the Hollywood spy thriller, 'Body of Lies', which is based on terrorism," said Bhatt.

"One Sunday, I told Headley that we would not be able to meet as it was my birthday and I would be going to Siddhi Vinayak temple. He surprised me by landing up there," said Warak. "He even chatted with a constable guarding the place with a carbine and told him that his gun was an antiquated."

Warak remembered another incident where Headley got into an argument with a mulla and his followers who had come to see a Hollywood movie at Metro. Headley had ticked off the cleric for coming to watch a movie with semi-clad girls.

"People presume that Headley gave me money but that is not true. In fact, he said that he like me because unlike others I did not seek to milk a white man," said Warak.

Although Bhatt, too, was stunned when the truth about Headley came out, he said that Headley treated them like friends. "He was suave and articulate and we called him Steven Seagall as he resembled the American action hero of Indian origin.

"He claimed to have done a stint with the US Rangers, which I suppose is a lie but he confessed that he got into body-building during his stint in jail, which is true," said Bhatt.

Although Bhatt got into a lot of trouble because of Headley, there is no hint of bitterness in his tone as he talked about him. If anything, there is still a sneaking admiration for him.

Sanku wrote:How will NIA trust anything that comes from this source? It may be a prepared story on some ones behest?

Everything will have to be independently verified too I guess.

VinodTK wrote:Headley spills ISI’s 26/11 beans

1. Are all the above serving officers of the PA ? I presume Maj. Iqbal & Maj. Sameer Ali are.
2. Who is Sheikh Abduk Rehman Saeed ? Is he the same as Major Saeed ?

SSridhar wrote:

VinodTK wrote:Headley spills ISI’s 26/11 beans

We now have several names, Major Saeed, Major Iqbal, Major Sameer Ali and Colonel Shah. I have two questions.

1. Are all the above serving officers of the PA ? I presume Maj. Iqbal & Maj. Sameer Ali are.
2. Who is Sheikh Abdul Rehman Saeed ? Is he the same as Major Saeed ?

TIA

According to investigators, Lashkar leaders, a former Pakistani military official Sheikh Abdul Rehman Saeed and Sajid Mir were the chief handlers of US based jihadis — Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana. Rana had learned of the pending Mumbai attack during a meeting with Abdur Rehman Saeed.

There is definite information that Headley and Rana had stayed in Pakistan during the Mumbai attacks and left that country a few days after the carnage. While Headley left Pakistan on December 7, Rana left a couple of days later. Their locations during the period are traced to Karachi and Lahore.

The agencies have in possession voice samples — derived from satellite and mobile phones — of those who were passing instructions to the 26/11 attackers. Mir and Saeed were arrested by Pakistan at the behest of US after the terror plot against India and Denmark was busted.

During his interrogation, Headley had told the FBI that Pakistani army officials Major Saeed, Major Iqbal, Major Sameer and Colonel Shah were involved in the planning of the 26/11 attacks.

Headley has mentioned serving officers of Pakistan army — Major Sameer Ali, Major Iqbal and Major Haroon — as those who collaborated with the Laskhar terrorists. Major Sameer and Major Iqbal figured in the dossier India gave to Pakistani foreign secretary Salman Bashir.

Headley also admitted that while he had started off as a Lashkar recruit, he started drifting towards Al Qaida under the influence of Major Abdul Rahman Saeed. Saeed, who served with 6 Baloch Regiment of Pakistan army, took voluntary retirement in 2002 to devote himself full time to Al Qaida's cause. Headley, who respected Saeed for his "sacrifice", went high in the retired major'e esteem because of precise inputs he provided for the 26/11 attack.

Saeed, with the help of Ilyas Kashmiri, drafted him for the plan to attack Danish newspaper Jylland Posten which published controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. This, when Headley's original handler Sajid Mir wanted him to focus on Lashkar's anti-India mission.

ramana wrote:and what was he doing for massa?

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/June/10-nsd-683.html
As part of the cooperation and partnership between the United States and India in the fight against international terrorism, Indian law enforcement officials were provided direct access to interview David Coleman Headley, the Justice Department announced today.

Mr. Headley and his counsel agreed to the meetings and Headley answered the Indian investigators’ questions over the course of seven days of interviews. There were no restrictions on the questions posed by Indian investigators. To protect the confidentiality of the investigations being conducted by both India and the United States, both countries have agreed not to disclose the contents of the interviews.

In his plea agreement, Headley admitted making surveillance videos and conducting other intelligence gathering for the attack on Mumbai. The U.S. and India say the 10 gunmen in the three-day siege were trained and directed by the Pakistani-based terrorist group Lashkar e Taiba (Army of the Pure). Headley and his counsel agreed to the meetings and there were no restrictions on the questions posed by Indian investigators, the department said. Indian law enforcement officials were provided direct access to interview Headley ''as part of the cooperation and partnership between the United States and India in the fight against international terrorism,'' the department said in a statement. Both countries have agreed not to disclose the substance of the interviews, in order to protect the confidentiality of the investigations being conducted by India and the U.S., the Justice Department statement added.

But one source, familiar with the case, told rediff.com, "This guy is not to be underestimated in his sophistication that comes from years of being an undercover agent and one who is fully aware of his rights as an American citizen and is also fully updated on the laws and the nuances of the plea agreement."

Diplomatic sources acknowledged that they had pushed very strongly for access to Headley because they feared that denial of such access would have affected India-US strategic partnership.

"We did not want it to become a major political and diplomatic issue, which it was beginning to become when the access continued to be delayed," one source said.

"But nobody could have forced Headley to say anything," another source pointed out, and everything came under the rubric of US laws "and it was entirely managed by the department of justice."

chaanakya wrote:Rahul Bhatt remembers Headley



"One Sunday, I told Headley that we would not be able to meet as it was my birthday and I would be going to Siddhi Vinayak temple. He surprised me by landing up there," said Warak. "He even chatted with a constable guarding the place with a carbine and told him that his gun was an antiquated."

Atri wrote:http://news.indiainfo.com/headley-deibe ... 16825.html

Kasab's red wrist thread bought from Siddhivinayak temple, mumbai by DCH.. People close to ISI and pak-military (ZZH for example) had started shouting about "the red wrist threads" hence kasab is amar-singh immediately after the attacks happened.. Coincidence?

Sanku wrote:
Unnamed sources all, but on this level even a mainstream web publisher (very supportive of party in power usually) talking about the event being nothing more than showboating is significant.