CHICAGO (CN) - The government's key witness in the trial against an alleged supporter of the bloody rampage that hit Mumbai in 2008 told jurors Tuesday that news of his friend's indictment made him realize Chicago-based businessman Tahawwur Rana was "stuck in this thing for no reason."
Following his decision to testify against Rana, admitted Lashkar-e-Taiba member and Mumbai attack plotter David Headley allegedly told his wife: "I made a fool of [Rana]. The poor fellow should be released; he is stuck in this thing for no reason."
"[I] made a fool of him in getting him to assist me," Headley added as Rana's defense attorney questioned him on the witness stand.
Defense attorney Patrick Blegen chimed in: "A fool is a stupid person right? Somebody who doesn't know what's going on?"
"I mean I fooled him," Headley said.
With his short gray hair slicked back behind a slightly receding hairline, deep-set eyes peering out from an impassive face, and a stocky linebacker's frame draped in a dark windbreaker, Headley is the picture of a stereotypical tough guy at the onset of middle age, the look of an extra from "The Sopranos."
The contrast with the bright-eyed, professorial Rana could not be greater.
As Tuesday marked the fifth and final day of Headley's testimony, Rana's team tried to clear up any remaining ambiguities and undermine the government's claim that Rana knew his business, First World Immigration, served as Headley's cover for terrorist activities.
Headley has admitted to loaning several thousand dollars to Rana's struggling business. Rana's defense team said Headley used this leverage to obtain full control of First World Immigration's foreign offices so that he could use them as cover for his work with Lashkar. Though Headley accepted large amounts of money from Lashkar members, "not a penny" went to Rana, the defense claimed.
Headley also testified that he obtained a visa through Rana, but did this only "to save money and [for] convenience."
While those involved in Lashkar's plots had access to Headley's many surveillance videos of Mumbai and Copenhagen, the plotter confirmed that Rana "never saw a single second" of the tapes.
The government has also pointed to Rana's relationship with Headley's Lashkar contacts as further evidence of his complicity. One such contact, known by the alias Major Iqbal, is thought to work for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
Headley admitted Tuesday, however, that he put Rana in contact with the so-called Major Iqbal so that the two could discuss Rana's AWOL status with the Pakistani army. Iqbal and other Pakistani investors were also interested in talking to Rana about his plan for a "meat business," Headley said.
Rana's team also had Headley further explain the differences between Rana's status as a Deobandi Muslim and Headley's adherence to the Salafi faith. More radical Salafis, such as those who belong to Lashkar, are usually referred to as Wahhabi.
Blegen asked if "Lashkar [would] entrust [knowledge of] a massive terror attack to a non-Salafi."
Headley replied, "Probably not" - a response he soon upgraded to "definitely not."
But the defense mainly focused Tuesday on revealing that Headley had spent the past week lying on the stand to avoid capital punishment and extradition to India, Pakistan or Denmark.