'With feet in East and West, Headley felt trapped in 2 worlds'

A terror suspect with "feet in East and West", David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, who is in FBI custody for plotting attacks against India, has a traditional Pakistani wife, but also an American makeup-artist girlfriend, and alternates between his two names depending on the settings, a media report said today.

Featuring the growth of 49-year-old Headley, who was born to a Pakistani father and an American mother, from his birth till being arrested by FBI last month, The New York Times said the indictment against him portrays a man who moved  easily between different worlds.

"The profile that has emerged of him since his arrest, however, suggests that Mr Headley felt pulled between two cultures and ultimately gravitated toward an extremist Islamic one," the newspaper said.

"Today, Mr Headley is an Islamic fundamentalist who once liked to get high. He has a traditional Pakistani wife, who lives with their children in Chicago, but also an American girlfriend — a makeup artist in New York — according to a relative and friends," the daily said.

Depending on the settings, "he alternates between the name he adopted in the US, David Headley, and the Urdu one he was given at birth, Daood Gilani. Even his eyes — one brown, the other green — hint at roots in two places," it said.

Investigating agencies say his purpose of changing his name to Headley was to take the benefit of his western looks to visit countries like India and Denmark without causing any suspicion among security agencies there.