Ishrat Jahan was LeT operative, says David Headley

11 February, Mumbai

Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley Thursday named Ishrat Jehan as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative who was involved in shooting police at a post near Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Ishrat Jahan along with three others was killed in an encounter in 2004. David Headley is deposing in front of Special Mumbai court via video conferencing from an undisclosed location in the US.

The family and the lawyer of Ishrat Jahan have raised questions over David Coleman Headley’s testimony that she was LeT operative, saying this was for the political benefit of some big people whose names have been besmirched. Ishrat’s sister Musarrat and lawyer Vrinda Grover claimed that she had no terror links.

Meanwhile, retired IPS officer D G Vanzara said that David Headley’s revelation has vindicated Gujarat police’s stand that Ishrat Jahan was a terrorist. He said the gun-battle in which she was killed was genuine. Vanzara was jailed in 2007 for his alleged involvement in extra-judicial killings, include that of Ishrat Jahan. He secured bail in 2015.