Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks accused-turned-approver David Headley said on Saturday that Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed had told him that former Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray "needed to be taught a lesson". Continuing his deposition to a Mumbai court via teleconferencing from the United States, the Pakistani-American terrorist said that he had visited Thackeray's home and the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai for surveillance, after telling Saeed he would take "six months to complete the task", reported The Times of India. Headley had on Thursday told the court that the LeT had planned to kill Thackeray in Mumbai, but the plan failed as the would-be assassin was arrested. Thackeray, who was a hugely influential figure in Maharashtra’s politics, died in 2012.

Headley also told the court on Saturday that LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi had told him about the "Ishrat Jahan operation", though he had also learnt about the case through the media, reported PTI. He said he had also told the National Investigative Agency that Jahan was the "female [LeT] member who had died in an encounter in India", adding that the agency did not record "my statement in exact words". However, Headley went back on a part of his statement to the NIA, saying he did not tell the agency about Lakhvi informing him that the "Ishrat Jahan module" was a "botched-up operation", adding that "these were my thoughts". He also admitted that he had "no personal knowledge about Ishrat Jahan". In February, he had told the court that Jahan was an LeT member.