Questions on money and wife Faiza Outalha get David Headley's goat

MUMBAI: It's clear that David Coleman Headley sees himself more as a crusader than a mercenary. A question from the prosecution about how much money he made while working with the ISI and the LeT elicited an angry response. "That's complete nonsense," Headley said. At the end of the hearing, he apologised to the court after the judge said decorum needed to be maintained. "Your honour, I am sorry," he said.

Leading up to the question that Headley said had no basis, the prosecution had asked him the purpose of his visit to the UAE from Mumbai on May 17, 2007. Headley told the court he had gone there to invest money in a Dubai property.When the prosecution asked him if he possessed a "handsome amount", Headley responded, "Yes I had a handsome amount from my business in America. Therefore I wanted to invest it."

At the beginning of the proceedings, when the court staffer started reading out the oath, Headley just rattled it off instead of repeating after the staffer, to the amusement of all present.

Early in the hearing, Headley appeared impatient when several questions were asked to him about his estranged wife Faiza Outalha's time spent with him in Mumbai from April 28, 2007, until her de parture to Karachi on May 5, 2007. The prosecution asked Headley what he did during the first part of their trip, when they were at Taj Mahal Hotel till April 30, 2007."I made a surveillance video of the conference room on the second floor." When a similar question was posed about the couple's time spent at Trident Hotel from April 30, 2007, to May 2, 2007, he said, "I was not surveying. I was just with my wife."

Through the questioning it was revealed that towards the end of the trip, while Headley stayed at his paying guest accommodation, Faiza stayed on her own at Hotel Outram in Colaba. "Watching TV," was his wry answer when asked what she did there. A terse response came when repeatedly asked why she had returned to Karachi prematurely. "It's my personal matter. She was my wife and we had arguments. I don't remember making her any promises," he said.