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.
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.
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.
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.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was brought to India on Thursday after being "successfully extradited " from the US, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said. The 64-year-old Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin landed in Delhi in a special plane on Thursday evening, ending days of speculation of when and how he will be extradited, officials said. The NIA said in a statement that it had secured the successful extradition after years of sustained and concerted efforts to bring to justice the key conspirator behind the 2008 mayhem that claimed 166 lives. Rana is accused of conspiring with David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, and operatives of designated terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) along with other Pakistan-based co-conspirators, to carry out the the three-day terror siege of India's financial capital.
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.
The government has given its sanction to charge sheet nine people including Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed and two Inter Services Intelligence officers for plotting terror attacks in India including the 26/11 strikes.
India said on Sunday that it is yet to get access to Lashkar-e Taiba operative David Headley but negotiations are underway on this issue and it is "satisfied" with the progress of discussions.
India is likely to get access to Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley's United States-based wife Shazia, his two girlfriends and accomplice in Mumbai terror attack, Tahawuur Hussain Rana soon.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley's reported claim that Ishrat Jahan, killed in an encounter with police in Gujarat in 2004, was a suicide bomber of the terror outfit has been contested by the father of the man killed along with her.
The United States has launched a review of its agencies' handling of inputs provided by two of the three wives of David Headley about his involvement in the 26/11 strikes, a top Obama administration official said on Thursday, even as India expressed disappointment over not being provided specific information on the Mumbai attacks plotter
The Indian security agencies had sought all the details about Headley's links with Rahul, gym instructor Vilas Varak, some diplomats and business personalities who were allegedly misused by the terror suspect, sources privy to the investigations said on Monday.
Agencies probing the 26/11 case will seek voice samples of David Headley and Tahawwur Rana -- the terror suspects -- from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to ascertain the duo's role in the Mumbai terror attacks.
David Headley, who was involved in the Mumbai terror attack, was a liar and ditched his school time pal Tahawwur Rana, the Pakistani-Canadian's attorney told a Chicago court on Tuesday, claiming that their friendship was over and they would never meet again.
Seeking to downplay the inability of Indian officials to get access to suspected terrorist David Headley, the government on Tuesday said it has received a full report from US investigators and has advised them on what lines further probe was required.
The FBI has provided access to agents from India's domestic and external intelligence agencies to the information it has gathered on David Headley and his associate Tahawwur Husain Rana, who is also in the FBI's custody.
A special court rejected the plea to make Pakistan-American terrorist David Headley a witness in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case on Monday after the prosecution argued that he is one of the accused and part of a module, which had filmed targets in the city.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley approached the Inter-Services Intelligence to help another co-accused in Mumbai attacks Tahawwur Rana to get back to Pakistan, according to a video recording produced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation before a court in Chicago on Monday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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