If the Mumbai police is to be believed, American-born terrorist David Headley, who has confessed to conducting a recce of all 26/11 targets in the city, may have played no role in the carnage.
The assessment by the Mumbai police is reflected in its appeal before the Bombay high court in which its elite crime branch is silent on the role of the Pakistan-origin LeT terrorist while contesting the acquittal of Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin in the November 26, 2008 attack that left 166 people dead.
While the ministry of home affairs burnt midnight oil over getting access to Headley after his role in the brazen attack emerged, the focus of the Mumbai police through its special public prosecutor Ujjwal D. Nikam was that the terrorists intruded into the country’s financial capital with the help of hand-written maps drawn by Ansari.
Headley is at present in a jail in Chicago in the US.
Headley, who was recruited by LeT, has confessed to the US authorities and India’s National Investigating Agency (NIA) in front of a magistrate about his role in carrying out the survey of the locations attacked by the terrorists on 26/11.
“When they (police) are seized of the issue of 26/11, it was incumbent upon them to bring forward all criminals concerning the crime and their respective roles played therein before the court of trial and appeal so that truth prevails and no scope for misunderstanding occur,” defence counsel for Ansari, R.B. Mokashi, said here.
Headley’s arrest and subsequent revelations had left the Mumbai police red-faced and punctured their theory of criminal conspiracy involving only Ansari and Sabauddin.
The two had, however, been discharged by special judge M.L. Tahaliyani saying that better maps were available on Internet.