Sandeep Dikshit says Headley naming Jahan as terrorist pre-arranged

Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit on Thursday alleged that a deal was signed that 26/11 conspirator David Coleman Headley will name Ishrat Jahan as a terrorist.

He said that it was also surprising to see that people, who don't even know who Headley was, knew that he would be making this deposition.

"Before his statement today, four or five days I have heard from a number of people that this is one of the deal that has been done and Headley will take Ishrat Jahan's name as a terrorist. If this news is true today, whoever has told me that Headley would make this deposition, how did these people come to know? How is it that many people, who doesn't even know that who David Headley is, knew that he would be making this deposition," Dikshit told ANI.

"The news to this effect had been coming for a while and we had been told some days back that this deposition Headley will give. To me it sounds a little suspicious because there was no such intimation with regard to Ishrat Jahan all this while, either with the Gujarat Government or the Government of India. If this is the case, then investigation should be done to see how she was linked to this whole issue," he added.

Dikshit also said that the Ishrat Jahan case was a very clear case of human rights violation and ever since it took place, the Gujarat Government or the police have not been able to provide any evidence to the fact she was linked in any form of anti-national activity.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took indirect potshots at Nitish Kumar for referring to Ishrat Jahan as 'Bihar's daughter' saying the statements must be taken back.

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"Those who were doing politics on her name and calling her martyr has got startling revelation today. After the encounter many leaders used to call her innocent and some were calling her Bihar's daughter. Today after Headley's statement those minister who had said it should take back their statements," BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain had said.

The deposition of David Coleman Headley began before a special Mumbai court on Thursday where he is revealing the sequence of events and planning behind the 26/11 terror attacks.

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He also named Ishrat Jahan and said she was a Lashkar suicide bomber.