JOIN USTechnical glitch from the US’ end on Wednesday forced adjournment of the third day of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative David Headley’s hearing over video conferencing.
Additional Sessions Judge G A Sanap, who presides over terrorism-related cases at the Mumbai Sessions Court, adjourned the proceedings for the day, but the court will function extra hours to make up for the lost time.
The 56-year-old Pakistani-American has deposed for two days–Monday and Tuesday–between 7am and 12:30 pm through video-telephone conferencing from an undisclosed location in the US. On Thursday, the hearing will be held between 7 am and 2 pm.
After Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told the court that video-conferencing was not working, the court reviewed the situation and at 10:15 am decided to adjourn the matter for the day.
“We had two telephone lines ready, both were working. However, while they could speak to us over telephone, they could not connect to the video. The Department of Justice of the United States regretted that David Headley could not be produced,” Nikam told reporters.
During the course of the day, officials from the Mumbai Crime Branch and the National Investigation Agency spoke with the FBI official, who was in touch with the US attorneys.
In the last two days, Headley admitted to being an Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) spy and an LeT terrorist who was asked to penetrate India’s military establishment, target defence and strategic installations and scientists, and also crowded places and hotels.
He has named several key people from the LeT and ISI and how he was motivated by LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. Besides, he admitted to visiting Mumbai seven times before the 26/11 attack on reconnaissance missions.