Ishrat was LeT recruit: Headley

Mumbai, February 11

Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley  told a special court here today that young college girl Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat, was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley picked up the name of the 19-year-old Mumbra girl from three names when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on a “botched operation” mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a “botched operation” conducted in India by another LeT operative, Muzammil Butt in which a woman member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded by Nikam for details about the operation, Headley said, “There was a female wing in the LeT, which was headed by one Abu Aiman's mother. Zaki Sahib (Zaki-Ur-Rehman) told me about Butt's botched up operation in India. It was some shootout with the police.

“I don't know which part in India. But there was one female who was killed in the shootout.

I think she was an Indian national, and not a Pakistani, but was an LeT operative.”

Nikam claimed Headley said he had heard Lakhvi telling Butt that an “operation” in Gujarat had failed because of a female suicide bomber. However, Headley had said he does not remember the name of any female suicide bomber. “I don't know any female suicide bomber in LeT. I cannot name any suicide bomber in LeT,” Headley told the court when asked about suicide bombers.

In his media interaction, Nikam said he named in the court three “women suicide bombers”  — Noor Jahan Begum, Ishrat Jahan, Mumtaz Begum — of the LeT for Headley to pick. Headley said he had heard of Ishrat Jahan and that she was killed in a police encounter." Ishrat along with Javed Shaikh, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Joha were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The police had claimed that those killed were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then CM Narendra Modi. — PTI

Ishrat Jahan Shamim Raza was a BSc-II student at Mumbai's Guru Nanak Khalsa College. On June 15, 2004, Ishrat, along with three others, was killed in an encounter with the Gujarat Police near Ahmedabad. The police then claimed the four LeT operatives were planning to kill the then CM Narendra Modi to avenge the Godhra riots