An officer in Pakistan's intelligence service chose a Jewish centre as a target for the 2008 Mumbai attacks and then helped launch a new plot against Denmark, according to the star witness in a terror trial in Chicago. In his second day of testimony, David Coleman Headley, a confessed Pakistani-American terrorist, revealed more details about close ties between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror group.
Pakistan has denied any connection to Tahawwur Rana, a key accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Rana, a Canadian national, has not renewed his Pakistani documents for over two decades, according to the Foreign Office spokesperson.
India has asked the United States to provide statements of 13 people associated with Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley and his accomplice in Mumbai terror attack case Tahawwur Hussain Rana as they could be potential witnesses.
"The NIA team is in Mumbai since Saturday and is gathering details pertaining to the activities of Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana. The NIA has recorded the statements of those who were in touch with Headley during his stay in the city," a senior police source told PTI.
On the eve of third anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, former home secretary G K Pillai on Friday accused the United States of entering into plea bargain with one of the key accused David Headley without taking India into confidence.
National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon has met his United States counterpart James Jones in Washington, DC and discussed modalities by which access could be given to David Headley, Lashkar-e Tayiba operative blamed for role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
India will seek direct access to Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley under a bilateral agreement signed in 2005 and a communication is being sent to the US to allow its investigators to question him. The draft letter was being examined by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram after it was prepared by Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam and officials of National Investigation Agency, official sources said in New Delhi.
Indian investigators will soon get access to terror suspect David Headley as United States authorities are working out the logistics of where and when they can question the Pakistani-American in connection with the Mumbai terror attacks, an official of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday. "In the plea agreement, Headley did agree to meet with Indian authorities. I think right now we are just trying to work out the logistics and scheduling of that," said FBI.
Giving his testimony on the second day of the trial of 26/11 co-accused Tawahhur Rana, a Canadian of Pakistani origin, Headley, a Pakistani-American, talked about the hatred against Shiv Sena among his Pakistani handlers. 166 people were killed in the November 2008 attack in Mumbai.
Amid criticism in India that the United States did not convey to India specific information on David Headley, President Barack Obama on Monday shared with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh results of an ongoing probe into why US intelligence agencies failed to connect the LeT terrorist to the Mumbai attacks.
A joint team of the US department of justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation briefed Indian investigators on American terror suspect David Headley's alleged role in last year's Mumbai terror strike on Monday.
With an FBI team in New Delhi, the Centre on Monday said the US has "promised" total support in probing involvement of terror suspects David Headley and Tahawwur Rana in "various crimes" in India and the agencies here are awaiting the first investigation report by the American investigators.
Investigators probing US terror suspect David Headley's visit to India have found that certain periods of his stay in the country remained unaccounted for raising fear that certain undesirable local elements might have helped him during his tour.
Bollywood filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul is a witness in the case relating to terror charge probe against American national David Headley, a top police official said.
Nikam said it was not yet clear whether Headley would plead guilty to all the charges or only to some of the charges but this, in any case, would not affect the 26/11 case in the Mumbai court as the trial has already reached its fag end.
Mumbai attacks accused David Headley had repeatedly told his Federal Bureau of Investigation interrogators that his friend and co-accused Tahawwur Rana was unaware of his terror activities and had not provided any support to him knowingly, details that were omitted from an affidavit filed before a court, recently unsealed documents reveal.
The 60-page charge sheet, filed by the NIA on Saturday before a special court in New Delhi, details reconnaissance activities carried out by 50-year-old Headley of the targets attacked by Lashker-e-Tayiba terrorists on November 26, 2008 that left 166 people dead.
American-born terrorist David Headley's return after the Mumbai terror strikes of 2008 was to give final touches to synchronised terror strikes on Jewish houses located in five cities, including the national capital on instructions of Al Qaeda operative Illyas Kashmiri.
With the Tawwahur Rana trial on in full swing at a court in Chicago, the biggest challenge that would be before the National Investigating Agency is to nail the link between him and David Headley.
Aspiring actor and fitness trainer Rahul Bhatt, whose proximity to 26/11 conspirator David Headley brought him under the scanner of anti-terror agencies, feels the 35-year prison term for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative is 'inappropriate' and wants him to be tried in India and 'rot' in jail.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has alleged that key conspirator Tahawwur Rana, who has been remanded to 18-day NIA custody, devised terror plots similar to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that were meant to target multiple Indian cities. The NIA believes that the tactics used in the Mumbai attacks were intended for execution in other cities as well, and that similar plots were developed elsewhere. Rana will be questioned in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks, which saw 166 persons being killed and over 238 sustaining wounds.
Pakistan American terrorist David Headley, who has pleaded guilty to charges of plotting the Mumbai terror attacks, has claimed that co-accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana too was involved in the conspiracy.
Intelligence sources told rediff.com that the duo had both video footage and photographs of the targets that were attacked on November 26.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said that India will be able to obtain access to United States terror accused David Headley for questioning in a properly constituted judicial proceeding in which he is obliged to cooperate fully.
Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence was planning recruitment of retired Indian military personnel to penetrate into the system and then use them for its anti-India activities, according to Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley.
American-born Lashker-e-Tayiba operative David Headley, accused of plotting the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, had 'hatred' towards India and warned that he would stop helping the probe if his admission of guilt was linked to cooperation with New Delhi.
Indian agencies are rejoicing over statements made by 26/11 accused David Headley, but they also know that the task ahead, especially for the interrogators, is not an easy one.
The United States has sought a jail term of 30 to 35 years for American born Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley for his role in Mumbai attack and other terror activities.
US terror suspect David Headley had conducted a detailed reccee of Nariman House before the Mumbai carnage and even entered the targeted Jewish Centre posing as a Jew, official sources said on Thursday. The new detail of Headley's movement in this western metropolis prior to the 26/11 attack came on the back of evidence that the US national had also visited and stayed at Taj and Oberoi here--the two luxury hotels which was attacked.
The presence of David Headley in Mumbai has thrown up many questions before investigators busy trying to find out whether disappeared cadres of the banned Student Islamic Movement of India and the Indian Mujahideen had used his immigration service.
The United States has ruled out any extradition for the American born Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley, in lieu of providing critical information to the United States agencies about various other terror outfits.
Well briefed on India's angst over the ambiguity on the access to Lashkar operative and 26/11 conspirator David Coleman Headley and also the perceived US indifference to India's role in Afghanistan, US President Barack Obama has assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he was "fully supportive" of India's request for access to Headley and "fully appreciated" and "recognized the enormous sacrifices" India has made in helping "stabilize" Afghanistan.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley can be interrogated by Indian investigators in the United States after he confessed to plotting Mumbai attacks, even as India's efforts to extradite him hit a roadblock.
Ejaz Naqvi, counsel for Sabahuddin, told rediff.com that he would be filing a petition before the Supreme Court to make Headley a party to the proceedings before the Bombay high court, which is hearing a set of three appeals in connection with the 26/11 case.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian national accused of playing a role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been extradited from the United States to India. Rana was arrested in the US in 2009 and convicted in 2011 for providing material support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, which carried out the Mumbai attacks. He had been fighting extradition since 2012, but the US Supreme Court ultimately denied his review petition, paving the way for his transfer to India. Rana will now face trial in India for his alleged role in the attacks, which killed 166 people.
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.
Home Secretary G K Pillai said if Headley gets severe punishment and comes out of the judicial process, it would be easier for India to get access to the Pakistan-born American national in jail. "If he is given a light sentence, it would not only be disappointing but we will be registering a very strong protest with the US," Pillai told NDTV hours ahead of the hearing against Headley in Chicago.
The Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing are downplaying their team's failure to meet David Headley, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative currently in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's custody.
American terror suspect David Headley was scheduled to visit India again in November last year, apparently to finalise the next target for terror outfit Lashker-e-Tayiba and set up a base in Delhi. Sources privy to the investigations said that Headley, 49, had told his friends in India that he was coming to the country in November.
Investigators have found "footprints" of US terror suspect David Headley in the Pune blast and hope to get a breakthrough "very soon" following intensive questioning of some people, mostly locals. Highly placed sources said on Wednesday that the plan of exploding the high-intensity bomb at the German Bakery was executed by some local terror modules with help from outside Maharashtra.
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