Ishrat Jahan was LeT operative, Headley tells court

The 19-year-old college student was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat

Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Thursday told a special court that Ishrat Jahan - a 19-year-old college student who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat - was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley told the Mumbai court that LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi had told him about a "botched-up operation" conducted in India by LeT operative Muzammil Butt, where a female member of the LeT was killed. When he was given three names by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley chose Ishrat Jahan.

After the hearing, Nikam told reporters, "I named three women suicide bombers associated with LeT - Noor Jahan Begum, Ishrat Jahan, Mumtaz Begum. When he heard the three (names), he said he had heard of Ishrat Jahan and that she was killed in a police encounter."

Nikam's claims were questioned by Ishrat's family lawyer Vrinda Grover, who said Headley, in his testimony, had said he only heard about a "botched-up" operation and that he did not know of any female suicide bomber. Grover said Headley's subsequent statement that he had heard the name of Ishrat Jahan after Nikam gave a "multiple choice question" cannot be treated as evidence. "It is not evidence. It is all mockery pointing to a conspiracy," she said.

Four persons, including Ishrat Jahan, were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The BJP demanded an apology from Congress for "targeting Narendra Modi" after the encounter. "Headley's deposition that she was a LeT's suicide bomber has unmasked those who do politics over terrorism. We do not expect any morality from Congress," BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said and demanded an apology from Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

Congress dismissed BJP's demands.