Bal Thackeray not scared of death threats: Manohar Joshi

Mumbai, May 25 (ANI): Senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi on Wednesday said party chief Bal Thackeray is not scared about threats to his life, especially from some one like 26/11 terror accused David Headley.

"I want to say that Bal Thackeray is not afraid of any such terror threats. He has received many such threats but he doesn't care about it much and is not afraid. We would like to ask one question to Headley that from where did he get this information? Who had asked him to kill them? It would be nice if we come to know who are the people behind these threats," Joshi said.

Joshi said Rajaram Rege, whom Headley had named in a US court, was not a prominent member of the party, and Shiv Sena workers had never indulged in criminal activities.

"No, there is no one called Rajaram in our party. He is not a prominent member of our party that I can ensure. Shiv Sena workers never indulge in such criminal activities. So, there is no truth to such talks," he added.

Earlier, Rege denied having links with Headley - barring two meetings and an exchange of a couple of emails.

Rege said a man called Vilas Varkarvi introduced him to Headley.

"However, at that time, I had no idea of Headley's intentions. He was like the other foreigners who keep coming to Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar for different reasons," Rege added.

He also denied that he had deliberately kept his meetings with Headley under wraps.

" I was interrogated in detail by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and I have told them everything, and they asked me not to speak about it," he said

Headley had said in his deposition as a prosecution witness in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack trial in a Chicago court that he had visited the Shiv Sena office in Dadar area of Mumbai, and met Rege, whom he identified as the party's Public Relations Officer.

Headley is a former informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He pleaded guilty last year to conducting reconnaissance for the Mumbai attacks and for the Danish plot. (ANI)