Chicago:
A Chicago court has adjourned the hearing on the bail application of Tahawwur Hussain Rana till December 15. Rana is one of the two LeT operatives caught by the FBI in October on charges of plotting a major terror attack against India that left 166 people dead in Mumbai.
For the first time, Patrick Blegen, the lawyer for Tahawwur Rana, presented 3-character witnesses in court in defence of his client.
In the federal court in Chicago today, Rana's attorney built a case that Rana is a family man who never has voiced extremist or political views.
According to attorney Patrick Blegen, his client has been duped by David Headley, who traveled to Denmark under the guise of being a representative of Rana's immigration business.
NDTV spoke to Blegan after his appearance in court. He denies that his client had any thing to do with the planning of 26/11:
Rana's lawyer to NDTVQ. You said in court today that the prosecution does not have a strong case against your client. Is that true?
A.
After having reviewed some of the evidence, I don't think that the complaint is as strong as the prosecution is making it out to be.
Q. You made a statement that your client has nothing to do with the Mumbai terror attacks. Is that correct?
A. What I said in the press release is that he denies any involvement in those tragic attacks. Yes, he denies any involvement.
Q. Also you said in court today that the National Defence College (NDC) that is mentioned in the prosecution's complaint is in Pakistan and that it has nothing to do with the NDC in India. Can you clarify?
A. I do not think there is any evidence that was referring to the National Defence College in India. That's what I said.
Q. Also you said that your client did not fund any of Headley's travels around India. Can you explain that?
A. That is not an issue any more. The prosecution has admitted that they are not taking a position that Rana funded Headley's travels around India but only that he "arranged" his travel details.
Q. Is that a charge that you should be worried about that he " arranged" travel for Headley to travel around India?
A. The charges are that he provided material support to terrorists. I guess that the government is taking the position that arranging for travel can be material support. I have never seen a case where going on Expedia and buying a ticket for some one is material support for terrorism but we will see.
Q. The first witness you choose to put up on the stand today is a gentleman who has been a member of the Iqbal Society with Mr. Rana. Why did you choose him and what does it prove about Mr. Rana's character?
A. What I said in court is that the Iqbal Society is a group that studies the poetry and writing of Iqbal. Iqbal advocated for Muslims to reach their goals through education and non-violent legal constitutional means. My point of putting him on the stand, as I told the judge is that, membership in that society is inconsistent with the picture the government is painting about Rana.
Q. Why did you choose your second witness? What was the point of that?
A. As I told the judge the second witness was to give the judge an idea of the consensus in the business community here about Dr Rana's honesty and trustworthiness.