Mumbai, May 25 (IANS) Shiv Sena activist Rajaram Rege, named by Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley in a US court, Wednesday said he met the Lashkar-e-Taiba operative twice in 2008 and exchanged some emails. He added that he had not concealed any information from authorities.
Speaking to IANS on phone from Vengurla in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, Rege, 40, categorically denied having "links" with Headley - barring the two meetings and exchanging a couple of emails.
He also said that he had not met Headley in the presence of Rahul Bhatt, son of eminent filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.
Rege said he could not remember the dates of the meetings, and added that he would talk to the media after his return to Mumbai next Wednesday (June 1).
A professional computer software and hardware engineer, Rege said he offered his voluntary services in the Shiv Sena's party headquarters to solve people's problems.
He said he was introduced to Headley by a man called Vilas Varkarvi.
"However, at that time, I had no inkling of Headley's intentions. He was like the other foreigners who keep coming to Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar for different reasons," Rege told IANS.
Rege also denied that he had deliberately kept his meetings with Headley under wraps.
"On the contrary, I was interrogated in detail by the NIA (National Investigation Agency) and I have told them everything, and they asked me not to speak about it. They were asking me the same questions as you are asking."
Rege said that though there were just a couple of meetings and Headley believed that he was the "Shiv Sena PRO", he had tried to avoid him as he did not feel too comfortable with Headley.
"On one occasion, he said that he wanted a tour around Shiv Sena Bhavan. I told him it is not a tourist spot...only after the terror attacks did his true intentions come to light."
Besides, Headley wanted to invest in mega infrastructure projects through Rege's ties with the Shiv Sena.
Rege tried to scuttle the issue by asking him to submit his company's profile before making any commitments.
Rege said that he did not know any top Shiv Sena leader personally and did not make any efforts to bring Headley in contact with them.
In one of his emails, Headley asked him to meet him in Dubai and, in an attempt to put him off, Rege said he would consider going there.
Rege was named by the 50-year old Headley while recording his testimony as a prosecution witness in the trial of the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in a court in Chicago, US.
A co-accused in the Mumbai terror attacks along with Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian of Pakistani origin, Headley said he had conducted a recce of India's atomic installation, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre near Mumbai and also visited the Shiv Sena offices at Dadar in central Mumbai.
Headley, who has admitted to being one of the planners of the Mumbai terror attacks, dropped a bombshell by naming a Shiv Sena public relations officer (PRO) named 'Rajaram Rege' before Judge Harry D. Leinenweber in the Chicago court.
However, the Shiv Sena does not have a post of PRO, though it has several spokespersons to handle the party's media relations.
The Shiv Sena late Tuesday admitted the existence of a party worker by the name of Rajaram Rege. The party had earlier denied it had an activist by his name.