'I will never step into Sena Bhawan again'

Rajaram Rege, the man who ISI operative David Coleman Headley approached for a tour of the party's head office, is shaken by his sudden rise to infamy

"I never knew that those few seconds could come back and haunt me after three years," said Rajaram Rege, the man who David Coleman Headley approached for a tour of Sena Bhawan, according to Headley's confession in front of a Chicago court judge. Shooting to fame after reports were released of a plot to assassinate Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, Rege (40), a Mahim-based resident and a software engineer, now swears, he will never step in to Sena Bhawan at Dadar again. Speaking to MiD DAY, he quelled all rumours of him being a Sena member and said that he was not Sena's primary member nor did he hold any post but used to visit the Saffron party's office on occasions.


Rajaram Rege is a Mahim resident and a software engineer. He said he
was not a member of the Shiv Sena. Pic/Deepak Salvi

"I was not a regular to Sena Bhawan. I used to go and roam the various floors. I did not have a cabin of mine or sat with anyone leader. I used to listen to the problems of people who visited Sena Bhawan," said Rege.

When asked when and where he met the ISI operative, Rege said, "I don't remember when and which floor I met Headley. However, I never realised that one brief meeting with someone would lead to such a major disaster in my life." And even though he admits to meeting with Headley, he denies any wrongdoing.

Rege further went on to add that he had denied Headley any tour of the Bhawan. "I told him 'it's not a tourist spot that anybody can tour'." Currently, trying to hide from the media glare, Rege is visiting his hometown in Sindhdurg district and will return to the city on June 3. Rege said that the controversy had unsettled his family. "My family supports me, but such things depress me and my kin." Rege also claims that no police official or Sena leader has approached him and he has no plans of meeting any Sena leader himself.

Sena tightlipped
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena remains mum on the issue. Leaders also refused to disclose any plans of tightening security measures. "Such matters cannot be discussed and nothing of this will be revealed to the media," said Shubhash Desai, senior Sena leader. However, according to a source within the party, Sainiks have been guarding Matoshree, the official residence of Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. Desai added, "Balasaheb has already said that Sainiks are enough to protect him and we stick to every word of his."

Rana all praise for sajid mir's Chabad house tactic
Chicago: Sajid Mir, LeT handler in Pakistan, was praised by Mumbai attack co-accused Tawahhur Rana for his Chabad House attack strategy and even called him Khalid bin Walid, one of the greatest Generals in history, David Headley testified yesterday. Headley, a 26/11 co-accused who has pleaded guilty, was giving his testimony on the third day of the trial of his childhood friend Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian, who has been slapped with 12 charges in connection with the November 2008 attack in which 166 persons were killed.

Chabad House
About the operation at Chabad House in Mumbai, Headley said Sajid Mir of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar- e-Taiba told the two boys (attackers) to use mattresses and ambush the Special Forces who were descending down the staircases. Six people were killed in the attack on Chabad House, a Jewish community centre. Headley also said he told Sajid that he has received a compliment from Rana for his "tactical brilliance".
Headley said Sajid expressed his frustration that he did not follow all of his instructions--one was "I was not supposed to go back to India after the Mumbai attack and travel to Denmark." Headley told the court that Sajid was in Karachi during the 26/11 attack. He was in contact with the attackers via phone and he was watching TV coverage of the siege.u00a0

Shiv Sena plot
Headley during his testimony to the government prosecutor said that he had sent some e-mails to Rajaram Rege of Shiv Sena. Yesterday, he spoke of a plot involving LeT and ISI to assassinate Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. He also indicated that Rana sent a message for him (Headley) from Major Iqbal, who was Headley's ISI handler. This was before he took the last trip to Mumbai for surveillance ahead of the attacks.

Sweden link
On July 26, 2009, Headley travelled to England, Sweden and Denmark to discuss the Mickey Mouse Project related to Jyllands Posten, the Danish newspaper which published the controversial cartoons on Prophet Mohammed. The project related to the plot to attack the newspaper. "I asked for manpower and funds for the project. It was lukewarm response ...they were not into it," he said. "Instead of 10,000 pounds they gave me 2,000 pounds and gave no weapons," Headley added. Headley then travelled to Copenhagen and did surveillance of the building housing Jyllands Posten.