The disclosure was made by the FBI in a footnote to the fresh evidence and charge sheet submitted by it against 49-year-old Pakistani-Canadian Rana, whose bail plea hearing is set to begin in a Chicago court.
The FBI also said that Rana, who was arrested along with his school friend Headley in October, “knew well in advance” that LeT terrorists would be striking Mumbai in November 2008.
In one of their conversations on September 7, 2009, “Headley discussed four targets with Rana - Somnath and Denmark, Bollywood and Shiv Sena,” the FBI said in a fresh 10-page affidavit, without identifying the individuals by names.
In his post-arrest statement, Rana “falsely claimed” that these — the targets discussed — were references to potential business ventures. The FBI said that in his September 7 conversation with Headley, Rana had also discussed the National Defence College in India as a “target”. Rana had appeared in court on December 2 for his detention hearing but a decision to release him on bond was postponed till December 15.
Opposing Rana’s release on bail, the prosecutors argued that according to a conversation between Rana and 48-year-old Headley in a “long car ride”, it has come to light that Rana “was told in advance that the attacks in Mumbai were to happen” and in fact he “offered compliments and congratulations to those who carried them out afterwards”.
The Pakistani-Canadian has denied the charges against him and offered a security of nearly a million dollars in support of his bail. The FBI, in its latest affidavit, also refuted Rana’s claims that he believed in non-violence and that his beliefs are akin to that of Mahatma Gandhi.
The FBI document also claimed that Rana had met Abdur Rahman Hashim Syed, a retired Pakistani Brigadier, known as “Pasha” in Dubai, days before the Mumbai attacks.
Rana’s support for 26/11 ‘confirmed’
Chicago, PTI: Terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana complimented members of Lashkar-e-Toiba on doing a “good job” during the terror attacks in Mumbai last year, US prosecutors have alleged. According to a 10-page memo filed by US prosecutors in a court here on Monday, Rana asked co-conspirator David Coleman Headley to “pass along a message for me” to LeT Member A, whom Rana had given the name “Khalid bin waleed.” “In the world, if there had been...a medal for command, top class,” the documents quoted Rana as saying.
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