Investigating agencies have identified the owner of a popular eating joint in South Mumbai as the woman who used to take David Coleman Headley around the city.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team questioned the woman, Anna (real name withheld), for more than nine hours a couple of days ago.
Anna, the investigators said, has disclosed that the Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, under scanner for his links with the 26/11 attacks, used to frequent her South Mumbai eatery. “They became close friends and Headley often asked her to accompany him around the city,” a senior police official said. Headley would use Anna’s mobile phone to call people and even introduced her as his wife.
Anna’s interrogation has revealed that Headley used to meet a lot of foreign nationals at her eatery. “There is a possibility that this is where Headley met people who informed him about the Nariman House in Colaba,” the officer said.
“Based on that information, Headley could have done a proper reconnaissance of the Nariman House.”
Anna has reportedly told the investigators that she thought Headley was a US national and she had no idea that he was actually on an alleged terror operation. “Headley had even hinted to Anna that she could accompany him to the US,” the officer added.
Incidentally, a couple of months after 26/11, Headley severed all ties with Anna. “According to her statements, she heard about him again only after the news of his arrest by the FBI came in the media,” the officer said.
The woman is currently being detained by the NIA. Investigators strongly believe that there could be a threat to Anna’s life because she happens to be the only person who knows a lot about Headley.
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