Bollywood stars,Shiv Sena leaders on LeT hit list: FBI

The FBI also said that Rana,who was arrested along with his school friend Headley in October,”knew well in advance” that Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists would be striking Mumbai in November 2008.

In one of their conversations on September 7,2009,”Headley discussed four targets with Rana – Somnath and Denmark,Bollywood and Shiv Sena,” the FBI said in a fresh 10-page affidavit,without identifying the individuals by names.

In his post-arrest statement,Rana “falsely claimed” that these – the targets discussed – were references to potential business ventures.

“It is difficult to imagine why a person who praises the work of a designated terrorist group that attacks India would look at an Indian temple or a Hindu nationalist party as a business venture,” the FBI noted.

Somnath temple,located on western coast of Gujarat,is the most sacred of the 12 ‘Jyotirlings’ of Lord Shiva and is a revered pilgrimage centre.

The FBI said that in his September seven conversation with Headley,Rana had also discussed the National Defence College in India as a “target”.

“Headley added this target to their list of previously discussed targets,saying ‘sorry not four,five,’ and identified the ‘defence college’. Rana responded,’right,this is it,I knew already’,” the US investigating agency said.

Rana had appeared in court on December 2 for his detention hearing but a decision to release him on bond was postponed till December 15 by Judge Nan Nolan,who said she needed more time to review the evidence,including his statement to the FBI after his arrest in October.

US prosecutors have filed a third memorandum “in support of motion to detain Rana pending trial”,saying that he “knew in advance” of the 26/11 Mumbai strikes.

Opposing Rana’s release on bail,the prosecutors argued that according to a conversation between Rana and 48-year-old Headley in a “long car ride”,it has come to light that Rana “was told in advance that the attacks in Mumbai were to happen” and in fact “offered compliments and congratulations to those who carried them out afterwards”.

The memorandum was submitted by United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

The Pakistani-Canadian has denied the charges against him and offered a security of nearly a million dollars in support of his bail application.

The FBI,in its latest affidavit,also refuted Rana’s claims that he believed in non-violence and that his believes are akin to that of Mahatma Gandhi.

“Ironically,in invoking the name of a man who embodied the principles of non-violence and speaking the truth,Rana seeks to mislead this Court as to the extent of his admiration and support for mass murderers,” federal prosecutors said.

They said Rana brought before the court witnesses who had little inkling of who he actually was.

Referring to the taped telephonic conversation that Rana had with Headley on September 7,2009,the FBI said the duo had discussed about the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008,in which 166 people,including six Americans,were killed.

“It is clear from the conversation and extrinsic corroboration that Rana was told just days before the Mumbai attacks that the attacks were about to happen.

“Elsewhere in the conversation,Rana asked Headley to pass Rana’s compliments directly to the specific Lashkar-e-Toiba member they both knew who had coordinated the attacks,” the FBI document said.

It claimed that Rana had met Abdur Rahman Hashim Syed,a retired Pakistani Brigadier,known as “Pasha” in Dubai,days before the Mumbai attacks in November last year.

“Pasha” was allegedly Headley’s direct link to Ilyas Kashmiri,one of Pakistan’s most wanted terrorists who is also linked to al-Qaeda.

The FBI produced portions of the transcripts that discuss how Rana had learnt during an in-person meeting between him and Pasha in Dubai that the Mumbai attacks were to happen.