Headley changed his name at Lashkar's insistence

Lalit K Jha
Chicago, Jan 15 (PTI) US-born terror suspect David
Headley had changed his name from Daood Gilani at the instance
of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit so that he could
easily carry out surveillance of potential targets in India.

After conceiving the plan in 2005 to target Mumbai, top
Laskhar terrorists asked him to change his name to conceal his
association with Pakistan or Muslim religion, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said, without identifying the
militants involved.
According to the charges filed by American federal
prosecutors before a Chicago court, an unnamed Lashkar member
A, who served as a "handler" for terror suspect Headley and
another person associated with LeT, told him in late 2005 that
he would be travelling to India to perform surveillance of
potential targets for the terror outfit.
"As per direction given by his LeT handlers, Headley
changed his given name of Daood Gilani on February 15, 2006,
in Philadelphia, enabling him to present himself in India as
an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani," Federal
Prosecutors said in an indictment filed before the court
Friday.
Arrested by the FBI in October last year, 49-year-old
Headley has been charged with planning terrorist attacks in
India and being involved in the Mumbai strikes.
His school friend Tahawwur Hussein Rana has also
been arrested and indicted on similar charges. PTI LKJ
RBT


The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this
message are intended for the exclusive
use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged
information. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please
notify the sender immediately and destroy
all copies of this message and any attachments contained in it.