WHEN DAVID HEADLEY CAME TO ANJUNA

He lived it up in Mumbai and identified and chalked out a deadly plan for his Pakistani terrorist handlers to execute an attack on some of Mumbais most iconic spots. After the job was done he came to Goa, under orders to look for places to target for an attack in touristy Anjuna and the Chabad house there, as part of the grand plan to focus on Israeli targets. After his attest deposition in the 26/11 trial via video conference, where he confirmed that Goa was in the list of places surveyed . VIBHA VERMA went looking for traces, clues and memories of David Headley as an ‘Anjuna resident’

Published on:

21 Feb 2016, 2:14 am

While his stay in Goa remains an enigma to not only Anjuna locals but the State, some still vividly remember terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley of loitering in the coastal belt over six years ago. It was sometimes in the year 2010 that suddenly the nondescript Starco junction at Anjuna hit the world map when intelligence inputs revealed that the Pakistani-born American terrorist had taken on rent an accommodation and undertaken a reccee of the area of this hot tourist spot.

On his target was Anjuna, due to the presence of Israelis and of course the Chabad House – a Jewish outreach centre. The lane that takes one to a structure, where Headley possibly stayed with his girlfriend and two other foreign nationals some years back, is now undergoing renovation.

As the time passes the memories of the people are fading away. Life has moved on since 2010. “Sorry I don’t remember whether any terrorist or foreigner stayed here,” one of the locals, who was taking a stroll with his Italian dog, reacted when this reporter asked him to recollect Headley’s presence in the vicinity.

“So many people arrive here and disappear next day. There is no count. Even if someone had stayed it’s difficult to remember his face,” he said before walking away.

The lane, adjacent to the road where the Anjuna police station is situated, barely has five houses with limited movement of the people. However, Herald located one Internet café where Headley, some locals vaguely remember, would randomly visit.

With no compulsion to record the identity of its visitors then, the Cyber café never maintained any details. But the establishment operator justified their ‘irresponsibility’ stating the terrorist could have produced a fake identity.

“When such entities can easily hide their identity to rent out an accommodation and move around freely right under the nose of law enforcing authorities without being caught, it is not difficult for them to produce a fake identity. If he had to disclose his real identity, he would be behind bars when he was here to recee the vital installations here,” he said, requesting to keep his identity under wraps, fearing a backlash from certain sections.

The man, in his late 30s, was quick to add that he was not employed at the Cyber Café when Headley lived in Anjuna.

It is however not established whether the locals were actually oblivious of his stay in Anjuna or are still in fear about even recalling the past. The fear was evident from the comment of a ‘Sai general store’ proprietor when he stated that terrorists don’t operate single handedly.

“It is not difficult for anyone to hide their identity. How can we guarantee that even after Headley is in jail, his operatives are not scattered to other places? The situation is like any Hindi movie…” he said when this reporter struck a conversation with him about the terrorist’s deposition claiming that Lashkar-e-Taiba intended to attack Anjuna Chabad House.

In his recent deposition recorded in India via video conference from US, Headley had stated that Goa’s Chabad House in Anjuna was one of the targets of the LeT and that Al Qaeda terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri had instructed him to recee the place post-Mumbai terror strike, in 2009.

In the lanes of Anjuna, foreigners do not leap out of the canvas of the landscape. They are very much a part of it, in Cafes and curio shops, in pizza places and bars and even in rented houses where many spend the winter stretching to spring. David Coleman Headley, with his very “white” looks was very much a part of that landscape, mingling in even as he planned to destroy the place, or at least some of the spots he targeted.

For some memory may have faded, for others the memory of the man who plotted India’s biggest terror attack, is best erased. The story of David Headley’s stay in Anjuna is what about what could have been and by God’s grace, did not.