Suspected LeT operative Tahawwur Hussain Rana's aunt on Friday claimed that his nephew was innocent, but admitted that he was upset over the publication of a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper.
"He (Rana) is a very pious person and he can never do something like this (plot terror attacks). He had told us that he had protested before the media against the Danish cartoonist. This is why the Americans are deliberately using this to malign him," Rana's aunt Suraiya Bano told NDTV.
Rana, a Pakistani Canadian, was arrested along with Pakistani origin US national David Headley by FBI for planning major terror attacks in India and in Denmark at the behest of Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Security agencies are probing the alleged role of Rana and Headley in last year's Mumbai terror attacks.
The probe agencies are also trying to trail the suspected link of Rana's visit to many Indian cities.