Chicago: Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley, testifying about the planning of the 2008 militant raid on Mumbai, told the court of the terror outfit's ambitious plans to enter Bollywood by launching Rahul Bhatt, son of film director Mahesh Bhatt, in a movie but disagreed with the defence that there was a plan to kill or kidnap him.
Headley told a US court that he befriended Rahul and conceded that he even talked about bringing him to Pakistan's tribal areas for sight seeing.
Testifying in the trial of Mumbai attack co-accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana, Headley told the court that Rahul wanted a break in Bollywood, but his father was not helping him.
"So (I) befriended him, so that they can get to bigger picture," Headley said before a Chicago court during questioning by Rana's attorney Patrick W Blegan.
Headley said Rana, who is a Chicago businessman of Pakistani origin and charged with aiding the terrorists who planned and implemented the commando-style 26/11 attacks, had an ambitious plan to enter Bollywood by launching Rahul in a movie that he wanted to make.
Rana was not able to go ahead with his plans as it was against the ideals of Lashkar-e-Taiba, who opposed such a move.
Headley had apparently taken a liking to Rahul and had warned him not to go to South Mumbai on November 26, the day LeT sent 10 terrorists for a major terrorist attack which over the next three days killed more than 160 people.
He said that there was once a talk of bringing Rahul to the tribal areas of Pakistan for sight seeing but disagreed with defence attorney Charles D Swift that the plan was to kill or kidnap him. "We do not invite guests and kidnap them," Headley said.
Nothing would happen to him because LeT does not believe in kidnappings, he said. Headley said he was told during training that he shouldn't get close to people emotionally. "As a matter of creed you should not think of him as your friend," Headley was told.
Headley who was in Mumbai to scout for terror targets had befriended Rahul whom he is believed to have met at a gymnasium.
Earlier, Mahesh Bhatt had said his son would like to see the 26/11 accused brought to justice. "Rahul is a brave citizen who volunteered to help the investigating agencies on his own. He too, like the 26/11 victims, would like to see Headley brought to justice," he said.
"Just when we thought that the worst was behind us, after the utterances of Headley in a Chicago court, where he said Rahul and Vilas Varak (who, along with Rahul, trained the LeT operative Headley in the Moksh gym) did not know about his designs and what he was up to in Mumbai, a new allegation is now being hurled at my son, based on his media interview," Bhatt said. (Additional information from PTI)
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