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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-Headley-at-the-Taj—Rana-across-India-/541339

“Headley at the Taj, Rana across India’”
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Express news service
Tags : National Investigation Agency, David Coleman Headley, Tahawwur Hussain Rana
Posted: Saturday , Nov 14, 2009 at 0927 hrs
Mumbai/New Delhi:

SNIPPET: “With the National Investigation Agency registering a case, officials have begun a sprawling investigation into rail, air and phone records to track the trail in India of US national David Coleman Headley and his Canadian associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the two men arrested by the FBI last month for allegedly plotting terror strikes.

While preliminary investigations are expected to go on for at least six weeks, sources said there is evidence to show that Headley checked in at least twice in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and Towers more than a year before it was targeted by the Lashkar’s attackers on 26/11.

And that once in 2008 Rana came to India using this name when he travelled extensively across the country — “from top to bottom on the map” — and visited several places in the North, South and West.

Headley is believed to have accompanied Rana on some of these trips. Investigators are exploring the possibility of them using these trips as “recce missions,” sources said, and their links, if any, to the 26/11 attacks.”

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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/headley-at-the-taj-rana-across-india/541339/2

SNIPPET: “Said Mukesh Bhatt: “He (Rahul) just happened to bump into this character in a gym just like anybody can bump into anybody and there is nothing beyond that at all.”

Meanwhile, a real estate agent, Sunny Singh, presented himself to the media today claiming that Headley approached him as recently as just over a month ago looking to rent an apartment in Bandra. “He came with a woman called Anna whom he introduced as his wife. He told me he had come with a reference from another woman named Marina,” Singh claimed. “He was willing to pay around Rs 50,000 and a deal was nearly final but things did not work out when he refused to give his visa documents and a letter from his employer.””

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HEADLEY MAPPED ALL ‘26/11 TARGETS’ -U.S. Suspect Posed as Jew: Police
TELEGRAPH INDIA.com ^ | November 14, 2009 | SAMYABRATA RAY GOSWAMI
Posted on November 15, 2009 3:16:49 PM PST by Cindy

SNIPPET: “Mumbai, Nov. 14: David Coleman Headley personally visited every target site of the 26/11 terror strikes last year, carrying out a recce on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a police source said today.

Posing as a Jew, he even visited Nariman House, the Jewish Chabad centre, in July 2008.

The Mumbai police today carried out raids in Bandra, its adjoining suburb Khar and BPO hub Goregaon in search of Headley’s local acquaintances and contacts.

“He (Headley) mapped the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House. We are interrogating (filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s son) Rahul to find out when he went to Leopold Café. That he did is certain — when he did that is what we need to know,” a top officer said.

Headley had visited the Mumbai home of Rahul, who contacted police after learning of the terror suspect’s arrest by America’s Federal Burau of Investigation (FBI) last month.

SNIPPET: “The source said Headley, a Pakistani-born US national, and his associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana stayed in Hotel Outram, a seedy motel in Mumbai’s Fort area, for about a fortnight in July 2008.

Born Daood Gilani, Headley, who changed his name and passport in 2006, posed as a Jewish American during his Mumbai stay. A source close to Rahul too confirmed that Headley had claimed to be a Jew.

“It is a mystery how he got into that building (Nariman House) just posing as a Jew. We are probing if he had anybody helping him locally. The FBI seized a book called How to Pray Like a Jew from him at the time of his arrest in Chicago. He had prepared himself thoroughly to pose as a Jew,” the officer said.

This morning, the police detained two tourist guides near the Gateway of India for questioning. It is suspected they may have aided Headley or other 26/11 plotters.

“The lead for this came from the FBI,” the officer acknowledged. “We now know most details about Headley’s recce of the terror targets, but there is a bit of a problem in case of Trident hotel as much of its past records were destroyed in the 26/11 attack. But we are getting there and will soon have the information.””

SNIPPET: “Between 2006 and 2009, Headley ran a firm called Immigration Law Centre out of Tardeo AC Market in south Mumbai with the help of a local Parsi woman. Late last night, officials of the federal National Investigating Agency, which has now joined the probe with Mumbai police, visited Headley’s immigration firm.

“A lot of facts have emerged from the interrogation of his co-worker/partner at the firm. She has been very co-operative. We now know Headley rarely used mobile phones and computers; but he did have a Tata Indicom landline number that he used while operating this immigration business. His mobile number is also with us and is leading us to some of his local contacts/acquaintances,” the source said.

Officially, Headley’s job was to facilitate US and Canadian visas for semi-skilled and unskilled workers. The investigators are trying to find out whether he had any contacts in local consulates.”