26/11 anniversary: Did David Headley survive the brutal attack on him?

Mumbai, Nov 26: One of the key players in the Mumbai 26/11 attack was David Coleman Headley. He was the one who conducted the reconnaissance of Mumbai, prepared videos, maps and handed it over to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which used it to target the city on the night of November 26 2008.

Headley has been a mystery all through his life. The mystery about Headley continues even today, with none sure about his whereabouts. The last we heard about him was that he was in an extremely critical condition.

In July, Headley was assaulted by two inmates as he had been working as a double agent with the ISI. Reports also stated that the assault was because of his Islamist terror links. He was admitted to the critical care unit and was kept under supervision. The two men who are said to have attacked Headley are brothers, who were doing time for several assault cases on police personnel.

Indian officials when asked for a comment on this incident said that there was no proper confirmation of the same. We are not even sure, if he made it after the attack, an official also informed.

His lawyer, John Theis however said that the fact that Headley had been assaulted was news to him. I cannot disclose where he is, but can tell you that I have no information that he was attacked.

There is absolutely no information about where Headley has been lodged in the United States. His location has always been kept a secret. The inmate locator on the website of the Federal Bureau of Prisons draws a blank when one searches for Daood Gilani, his original name. A search with the name David Headley throws up a result, but it is a person aged 53, who was released on May 3 1992.

Headily was tasked by the ISI and Lashkar-e-Tayiba to conduct a reconnaissance in Mumbai. During his stay he gathered details and prepared maps of the targets which were attacked by ten terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. In February 2016, he had deposed through video conferencing before a Mumbai court. He was however not deported to India from the United States as he had entered into a plea bargain deal with the FBI.