David Coleman Headley?s ?liberal? links: Rahul Bhatt?s forgotten presence in 26/11 terror case

Today, India marked the 12th anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack with much pain and grief. 166 people were killed and over 300 were injured in this deadly terrorist attack carried out by the militants of Pak-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. Pakistani Muslim ‘cleric’ Hafiz Saeed was the mastermind behind this attack. His co-conspirators David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana were nabbed by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for plotting similar terror models in Canada and India. What came out during Headly’s interrogation was his ‘friendship’ with Rahul Bhatt, the son of controversial Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt.

Mahesh Bhatt was one among the gang members who tried to accuse RSS in the Mumbai terror attack. He, together with Digvijay Singh and some Mullas released a book titled ‘26/11 RSS ki Sazish’. Before the terror attack was carried out, David Headley had informed Rahul not to come to South Mumbai. Rahul, a physical trainer made it public that he had only met Headley at his gym. The name, Rahul, had popped-up multiple times in his conversation with the Lashkar handles. Headley, in his testimony to FBI, had made it clear that he was fond of Rahul and wanted to recruit him to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Rahul was later questioned by NIA regarding his links with Headley.

Rahul’s role was not much probed by the investigation team since the Bhatt family is connected with Congress party and the party used to remote control central agencies during the UPA regime. Headley was sentenced to 35-year imprisonment in 2013 by the U.S court for his terrorist activities. Earlier also, there were reports of Bollywood celebrities maintaining close ties with the underworld. Years have passed by and no questions are being raised about Rahul’s alleged involvement. But for sure, the wings of security agencies were clipped when it came to the probe on Rahul’s presence in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.