The home ministry deliberately wanted to keep David Headley out of the 26/11 trial to expedite the verdict against Ajmal Kasab, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
In respect of all other charges relating to the Mumbai attack, Headley is the only accused. No one else has been cited as co-accused.
Indian investigators probing the link of arrested American national and Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley into the Mumbai 26/11 attacks have not stumbled upon any information regarding his local contacts while he was in India
US has said that it is yet to take a decision on Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley's extradition to India, said Robert Blake, the Obama Administration's point man for South Asia, especially India-Pakistan relations.
A top United States intelligence official has said that the probe in the Mumbai terror siege is an 'excellent example' of cooperation between India and the United States, even as Indian authorities are smarting over the US administration's refusal to hand over Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley on charges related to his involvement in the 26/11 attack.
A Chicago court has given a 60-day deadline to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to complete its investigations and file an indictment into the foiled terror plot in India and Denmark by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist group.
On the fourth anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman says Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley's extradition to India is under consideration in an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN
Months before the Federal Bureau of Investigation finally arrested David Coleman Headley, his Moroccan wife Faiza Outalha had tried to warn the FBI about the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative's terror links.
Investigators suspect that similar terror plots were devised for multiple cities across India.To piece together the full scope of the conspiracy, officials may take Rana to various locations, retracing events from 17 years ago.
Opposition parties, comprising of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Left and the Samajwadi Party, sought a statement from the government on Thursday on the cooperation extended by the US in investigating the role of terror suspect David Coleman Headley in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
Pakistani-origin American David Coleman Headley, charged by FBI of being involved in the Mumbai terror attacks, was using US as a base to plan future attacks outside the country, a top Senator said on Thursday. "I understand he was able to use the US as a base of (terror) operations," Senator Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the Senate Homeland and Security and Governmental Affairs who has received a classified briefing on the issue, said at a Congressional hearing.
The induction of David Coleman Headley, the arrested American national and a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative, in the 26/11 case has given a whole new dimension to its ongoing trial. Legal experts say that there will be no delay in the ongoing trial against lone surviving gunmen Ajmal Kasab, and other terror accused Sabahuddin and Fahim Ansari.
The US has said it is in communication with both India and Pakistan on the case of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in October on charges of plotting terror attacks against Indian facilities.
A senior source in Mumbai police aggressively argued that revelations in the David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana case by newly-formed National Investigation Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of US is not going to affect the 26/11 case which is being heard in the special court set up at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.
The Congress party has claimed credit for the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, an accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, from the US, saying the Modi government did not initiate the process and merely benefited from the "mature, consistent and strategic diplomacy" begun under the UPA. Former Home Minister P Chidambaram said the government did not secure any breakthrough to make the extradition possible, nor is it the result of any grandstanding. He added that it was a testament to what the Indian state can achieve when diplomacy, law enforcement and international cooperation are pursued sincerely and without any kind of chest-thumping. Chidambaram detailed the UPA government's efforts in securing Rana's extradition, citing the registration of a case against him in 2009, diplomatic pressure on Canada and the US, and continued efforts despite legal setbacks. He highlighted the role of the UPA in securing Rana's conviction for other terrorism-related offences and the cooperation between the US and Indian agencies in gathering evidence and securing his extradition. The Congress leader further stated that it was the UPA's groundwork that paved the way for Rana's extradition, even after the change in government in 2014.
Faiza Outlaha, the estranged wife of arrested Pakistani American Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and 26/11 conspirator David Coleman Headley, is likely to be questioned by the National Investigating Agency; and for that a request has been sent out to Morocco, the country where she resides.
There appears to be a pattern in the manner that the accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case are making statements before the court.
The National Investigation Agency has informed a Delhi court that Mumbai attack accused Tahawwur Rana could spill the beans on the ongoing and future terror plans of outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and its chief Hafiz Saeed for India.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian national convicted in the United States for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been extradited to India. Rana, a close associate of Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, was involved in the conspiracy from 2005 onwards and assisted Headley in obtaining a visa for India. He is the third person to be sent on trial in India for the 26/11 attacks after Ajmal Kasab and Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal. Rana's extradition comes after US President Donald Trump approved the request.
After the terror attacks in Mumbai last year, terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana complimented members of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, saying they had done a 'good job', United States prosecutors have alleged. According to a 10-page memo filed by United States prosecutors in a Chicago court on Monday, Rana asked co-conspirator David Coleman Headley to "pass along a message" to LeT Member A, whom Rana had given the name 'Khalid bin Waleed'.
'He is the key to unravel the 26/11 conspiracy.'
Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 terror attacks case, stayed at a hotel in Mumbai's Powai area for two days in November 2008 ahead of the attacks, where he discussed about the crowded places in south Mumbai with a witness in the case, the police said on Tuesday.
A Delhi court on Monday extended by 12 more days the NIA custody of 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana.
A multi-agency team has gone to the US and all paperwork and legal issues are being completed with US authorities to bring him to India, they said.
Media reports had said that Headley was attacked by two inmates at a Chicago prison on July 8.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal has congratulated both the previous UPA government and the current dispensation for the extradition of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Sibal expressed confidence that the extradition will shed light on the involvement of individuals within Pakistan's establishment in the attacks. Rana is being questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to uncover the full extent of the conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 terror strikes. Sibal highlighted the efforts of the UPA government in establishing the NIA and pursuing Rana's extradition, and also acknowledged the current government's success in bringing him back to India. The interrogation is expected to focus on Rana's potential ties to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and his role in the Mumbai attacks.
Tahawwur Rana facilitated David Coleman's foreign visits and was aware of his links to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, writes strategic expert B Raman.
Here's what Headley told the court on Thursday:
Union Home minister Rajnath Singh asked Opposition parties if they were prepared to apologise to the nation for their "malicious campaign" against PM Modi over the killing of Ishrat Jehan.
Even after Lashkar-e-Tayiba's David Coleman Headley identified his Inter-Services Intelligence handler Major Iqbal as Chaudhery Khan, mystery continues to shroud his presence. Hoping to get another access to Headley, the National Investigation Agency on the 26/11 money trail, is positive of hunting down the major. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, who led India's arguments for the extradition of 26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana in a United States court, is set to lead the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) prosecution in Delhi.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the key mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, is being interrogated for eight to ten hours daily by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to unravel a larger conspiracy behind the strikes. Rana, who was extradited from the US, is being grilled by NIA investigators to probe a larger conspiracy behind the attacks, in which 166 people were killed and over 238 injured. He is being allowed to meet his lawyer and is being provided with basic necessities. The investigators hope to find some important leads on his travels in parts of northern and southern India days before the carnage in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
Evidently on the strength of continuing information provided by Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and Pakistani American David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, who was an integral protagonist in the conspiracy that led to the horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, four new Lashkar handlers of Headley have been chargesheeted in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago).
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistan-born Canadian national and close associate of David Coleman Headley, could be extradited to India in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Rana's travel history in parts of north and south India before the attacks in 2008 is expected to provide crucial leads for the investigation. His extradition would mark the third person to be tried in India for the attacks, after Ajmal Kasab and Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal.
International pressure in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks led Lashkar-e-Tayiba to abandon its plan to attack a Danish newspaper in retaliation to the publication of a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed, David Coleman Headley told a court on Wednesday.
The 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman would also be questioned on his suspected links with the officials of Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and his association with terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which had orchestrated the attacks.
While the Lashkar-e-Tayiba leadership made plans for fool-proof attacks in Mumbai, the ten men involved in the carnage made a number of mistakes thus leaving crucial clues behind for Indian intelligence agencies, according to court documents.
In a long battle, this is Rana's last legal chance not to be extradited to India.
A team of Indian investigators will travel to the United States next week to question David Coleman Headley, arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for plotting terror-attacks overseas, including India.
A mysterious 'Rahul' appears to have been the prime target of Chicago resident David Coleman Headley, nabbed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for planning to carry out a major terror attack in India this month at the behest of Pakistan-based Laskar-e-Tayiba.
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