United States would consider giving India further access to David Headley, who has pleaded guilty in the Mumbai terrorist attacks case, for questioning by its investigating agencies once New Delhi makes such a request, the state department has said.
India has sought access from the United States to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict David Headley and his accomplice Tahawwur Rana -- both of whom were sentenced by a Chicago court after being found guilty of terrorism charges.
Home Minister P Chidambaram had briefed the Cabinet Committee on Security, where External Affairs Minister S M Krishna was present, on the interrogation report of LeT operative David Headley before visiting Pakistan for the SAARC Interior Minister's conference last month.
Amid reports that the Obama administration was upset over Indian officials going into the details provided by Headley, State Department spokesman P J Crowley said the US values cooperation with India on combating terrorism but it places responsibility on both countries.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian national accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, is likely to be lodged in a high-security ward in Tihar jail upon his extradition from the US. Rana, a close associate of David Coleman Headley, a US citizen who was also involved in the attacks, will be brought to India after his last-ditch attempt to evade extradition was rejected by the US Supreme Court. The attacks, which lasted nearly 60 hours, resulted in the deaths of 166 people and sent shockwaves across the country.
The Maharashtra government's decision to appeal against the acquittal of Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin largely depends on India's interrogation of Lashkar operative David Headley.
The United States on Saturday said it will allow Indian investigators to interrogate David Headley, who has pleaded guilty to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, but made it clear that he cannot be extradited to India.
Questioning the effectiveness of America's secret surveillance programme, a top investigative publication in Washington, DC has said the US intelligence failed to track Mumbai attack convict David Headley and he was arrested only after a tip off was provided by the British intelligence.
A team of the National Investigating Agency had interrogated Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley for nearly 30 hours in the presence of his lawyer and investigators of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. During the interrogation, Headley, who is currently serving a jail term in the United States under a plea bargain, offered some chilling insights into the workings of the terror outfit.
Headley's trial thus promises to be fascinating and important. If it is established that Headley was working for Headley all along, it will establish the Mumbai terror attacks as being a joint Lashkay-Al Qaeda operation, says Riedel. This, if true, is bad news for American counter-terrorism ops given the Lashkar's global network of supporters the Pakistani diaspora
As Indian and American investigators dug deeper into the David Headley case, some Bollywood stars who had reportedly interacted with the American terror suspect during his stay in Mumbai in 2007-2009, are likely to be questioned.
Was 26/11 conspirator David Headley working for CIA, ISI or LeT? Did he know more about the Ishrat Jahan module? Five years since the terror attacks and we are yet to find clear answers on the many mysteries regarding this man. Vicky Nanjappa reports
A Delhi court on Saturday took cognisance of the National Investigation Agency chargesheet against Pakistani-American David Headley Coleman and eight others for allegedly carrying out several terror attacks in India.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had attended the funeral of Mumbai attacks accused David Headley's father in 2010. This was disclosed by 50-year-old Headley at a Chicago court during the trial of co-accused Tahawwur Rana in the 26/11 attacks case.
Talking tough, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday told Pakistan to take "seriously" the revelations made by Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley on the Mumbai attacks and not "push them under the carpet".
Security has been heightened outside the National Investigation Agency (NIA) headquarters in New Delhi, where Tahawwur Rana, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, is being held following his extradition from the United States. Rana was brought to India after the US Supreme Court dismissed his review plea against extradition. The NIA secured an 18-day custody of Rana after he was produced before a special court in Delhi. Additional police and paramilitary forces have been deployed to ensure law and order. The extradition of Rana, a close associate of David Coleman Headley, the main conspirator of the Mumbai attacks, is a significant development in the investigation into the 2008 attacks.
Pakistani-American David Headley's confession in a US court about his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks has strengthened the 26/11 case, currently being heard by a special judge in Mumbai, public prosecutor in the case Ujjwal Nikam said on Friday.
Roemer said, "Headley may well be responsible for canvassing, tracking information to pass on to attackers of Mumbai blast. This is the sort of the thing that the US is extremely serious about. We want, along with Indian people and Indian government, to bring him to justice."
American national and Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror suspect David Headley had stayed in a hotel close to a Jewish centre in Pune during his visits to the Osha ashram in the city in 2008-09.
Headley visited Goa in 2008 during the last leg of the reccee that he had conducted in Mumbai. Sources in the Intelligence Bureau told rediff.com that Headley was definitely not on a holiday in Goa, but was exploring the possibility of carrying out a terror strike in the tourist destination. The NIA says it is possible that Headley was using the American couple in Goa as a cover. For the Lashkar, Goa was a backup option to the Mumbai attack.
Security agencies today did not rule out the possibility of execution of plans by Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashker-e-Tayiba of the places recced by David Headley, an American terror suspect, arrested in the United States last October.
While the Union home ministry issues statements time to time that it is hopeful about Headley's extradition, many within the establishment know for a fact that it is beyond impossible for this to happen thanks to the plea bargain secured by the Lashkar operative
"Headley created messages, saving them in the drafts folder of a Web-mail service rather than sending the message. he person creating such a message then provides a colleague with the user name and password for the account, which enables the second person to log on and read the communication in the draft folder without an e-mail having been sent. This procedure is referred to as an electronic dead drop.
Headley, accused of masterminding terror attacks in India at the behest of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, is believed to have visited Pune on a business visa and left for Mumbai later, police sources said
With the Intelligence agencies confirming that David Headley and Thahawur Hussain Rana had indeed come to Kochi and other parts of Kerala, the state police have started a massive man hunt to find out the duo's associates.
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.
During opening statements at Chicago's Dirksen Federal Building, Assistant US Attorney Sarah Streicker said that Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian, told Headley, an American of Pakistani origin, after the Mumbai carnage in which 166 persons were killed in November 2008 that the "Indians deserved it."
Mumbai attacks co-accused David Headley on Wednesday testified that New Delhi-based National Defence College is on the hitlist of terrorists as 26/11 mastermind Illiyas Kashmiri believes in this way he can kill more Indian brigadiers than what the Pakistan Army could not do in four wars with India.
Reacting to David Headley's sentencing, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said on Friday that in India the trial of the Pakistani origin American would have been more severe and would have been given a longer jail term for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
American prosecutors may seek a lesser sentence for Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley -- under a plea agreement the latter has clinched with the Federal Bureau of Investigation -- at the sentencing of the Pakistani-American terrorist in a United States court on Thursday.
India has asked the United States to 'temporarily' hand over Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley for a year and extradite his accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana to get more information about the conspiracy behind Mumbai terror attacks.
Seeking to downplay the Headley controversy, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon said on Tuesday, that the access given by the US to the Pakistani-American terrorist was "unprecendented", saying such cooperation may not have been possible five years ago.
The leaders of the US Senate and House Intelligence committees have defended National Security Agency's phone and internet surveillance programmes, saying it has been critical in thwarting potential terrorist attacks and also to track the 2008 Mumbai attacks' convict David Headley.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has written to his United States counterpart Hillary Clinton requesting for extradition of Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist and Mumbai terror accused David Headley and his accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana.
Concerned over reports that Mumbai terror suspect David Headley may enter into a plea bargain with prosecutors in Chicago, Indian security establishment feels that it would lend credence to suspicions that he may have been working for the Americans.
The National Investigation Agency on Saturday told a Delhi court that Pakistani-American David Headley was congratulated by his wife for the success of the November 26 terror strikes in Mumbai.
A Delhi court has sought the trial records of the 26/11 terror attack from a Mumbai court ahead of the expected extradition of the crime's alleged mastermind Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India from the US. The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for Rana's extradition, dismissing his final legal challenge against the move.
With the United States promising to give India access to 26/11 accused David Headley, Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam on Saturday left for Washington to discuss legal modalities for it.
Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana was involved in the Mumbai attacks and he and his friend David Headley were part of the same team that carried out the terror assault in 2008, a US federal attorney told a Chicago court on Tuesday.
An Indian court may try and convict Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley for his role in the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, but the conviction would merely be a symbolic one.