As extradition of terror accused David Headley from the United States is likely to be a difficult process, India will press for immediate direct access to him for its investigators.Top government sources said as extradition of the 49-year old Pakistani-American, who has admitted to plotting the audacious Mumbai terror attack, appeared to become a difficult process, the immediate priority of the Indian investigators was direct access to him to know details about terror plots.
Revelations by Pakistani-American David Headley, a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative charged with conspiring in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, may have prompted Islamabad to finally go after the Afghan-Taliban, a noted United States scholar on South Asia has said.
India on Thursday expressed disappointment over the United States' refusal to extradite Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley even as it vowed to continue to pursue with its demand for bringing him here for his role in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Notwithstanding Pakistan's denial, Lashkare-Tayiba operative David Headley has highlighted the deep involvement of the Inter-Services Intelligence in the Mumbai attacks conspiracy by revealing how he received meticulous training in espionage from its officers and agents during "hundreds" of sessions.
Security has been heightened outside the Patiala House Court in Delhi ahead of the expected appearance of Tahawwur Rana, a key accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Rana, who was extradited from the US, is likely to be produced in court on Thursday. The Delhi Police and paramilitary forces are carrying out thorough security checks to prevent any untoward incidents.
Top American officials have defended the controversial secret surveillance programme of the Obama administration, saying such efforts helped them to abort several terrorist attacks and nab terrorists like David Headley, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks convict.
The National Investigation Agency team, which quizzed Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley in Chicago this week, tried to glean information about one Abu al-Qama, who allegedly played a key role in planning the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai.The NIA team asked Headley specific questions about Abu Qama's role in the terror attack. Headley revealed that he had stayed in touch with Qama while planning the 26/11 attacks and updated him about the reconnaissance.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been taken into 18-day custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in India. Rana was extradited from the United States after years of legal battles and will be questioned to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the attacks.
Did Pakistani-American terror suspect David Headley try to eliminate his woman 'friend' -- a former woman hotel executive -- who could provide vital evidence to investigators?
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian national accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been extradited to India from the United States. Rana's interrogation is expected to shed light on the role of Pakistani state actors in the attacks, which claimed 166 lives. Indian authorities are particularly interested in his travels across India in the days leading up to the attacks, including visits to Hapur, Agra, Delhi, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. Rana's extradition follows a lengthy legal battle, with the US Supreme Court ultimately denying his application to challenge it. Rana is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. The investigation into the Mumbai attacks has implicated senior members of terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI), as well as officials from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Key United States media organisations have filed a motion in a court in Chicago demanding access to behind-the-scene video tapes of the Federal Bureau Investigations interrogation of Mumbai attacks plotter David Headley, including one showing him "palpably nervous" as he groped for a plea bargain deal.
Apprehending arrest during his India visit after the Mumbai attacks, Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley wrote a will and emailed it to his friend and co-accused Tahawwur Rana, as to what should be done to his wives and children in the event of his death or arrest.
India is likely to press for a clarification from the US on why there was no mention in David Headley's passport that he had changed his name in a detailed questionnaire to be sent to that country after Washington handed over a one-page report on the issue.
Tahawur Hussain Rana, who was arrested in the United States along with terror operative David Headley by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last month, had visited Kochi on November 16, last year, and had stayed in Taj Residency (now named Gateway) for a day.
Clinching evidence of key Mumbai attack accused David Headley's links with the Inter-Services Intelligence and Jamaat-ud Dawa is provided by his diary, which contains telephone numbers of two Major-rank officers of the Pakistani Army besides some others who handled the 26/11 attackers.
The Indo-US extradition treaty may pose a major hindrance to India's efforts to produce David Headley and Tahawwur Rana before a Delhi court over the Mumbai attacks, as it does not allow handover of a person already convicted or acquitted for the offence he has been sought for.
A Delhi court on Saturday deferred till January 21 hearing on arguments on taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the National Investigating Agency against David Headley and eight others for planning and executing terror strikes in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai attack.
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.
India has sent a formal request to Morocco for examination and recording of statement of Faiza Outalha, Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley's estranged wife, to get more evidence against him as well as Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed.
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.
It was earlier scheduled for Tuesday.
The sentencing of American-born Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley, accused of involvement in 26/11 Mumbai attacks, has been fixed for January 17 next year while that of his accomplice Tahawwur Rana has been rescheduled for January 15 from December four.
The United States did not provide information to India on David Headley before 26/11, as intelligence inputs it had about the Mumbai terror plotter was not enough to sufficiently establish his role in planning terrorist attack there, America's spy chief has said.
Three years prior to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was warned of the strikes and David Headley's links with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba by the wife of the Pakistani-American terrorist, says an investigative report.
Intelligence Bureau sleuths have unearthed yet another target of David Headley, the American national and Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative who has been arrested for carrying out terror activities on Indian soil.
Dr Singh briefed Obama about the peace initiatives with Pakistan, but made it clear that Islamabad should abide by its commitment of not to allow terrorism emanating from its soil directed against India.
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.
Expressing concern on the shocking revelations made by David Headley implicating the Inter Services Intelligence with 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has urged the Central government not to suspend the composite dialogue with Pakistan.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has politely turned down India's request for extradition of terror suspect David Headley to India on the ground he will have to first undergo a sentence which could be imposed on him in the US for the offences committed if convicted.
The Goa police on Tuesday said it cannot rule out the possibility of American terror suspect and Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley visiting the state earlier this year but has no conclusive evidence to prove it.The national media on Tuesday, quoting officials of the Union Home Ministry, said that Headley had surveyed two prime locations in Goa -- Arambl and Anjuna beaches.
National Investigation Agency will soon send a Letters Rogatory to Morocco for recording a statement of Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley's estranged Moroccan wife to get more evidence against him as well as LeT founder Hafeez Saeed.
As the Tahawwur Rana trial draws to a close, there will always be a big question mark on the one man who got away during this entire proceeding. Muzamil Bhat, who today without a doubt, is one of the biggest operatives in the Lashkar-e-Tayiba has been given a miss.
Pakistani authorities had told United States officials that the statements given by David Headley, the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks suspect, to American investigative agencies would not carry any value in Pakistan's courts and would be treated as "hearsay with little evidentiary" value.
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.
Although Headley has confessed to the FBI that he had conducted a recce of the targets in Mumbai, this is will not be enough to nail him in India. Only if Headley confesses the same details to Indian agencies can the confessions be used in the 26/11 case in India, said investigators
The US is constantly working at the "highest levels" to provide direct access to India as "quickly" as it can to Lashkar operative David Headley, who has confessed to plotting the Mumbai attacks.
The precision with which the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks were carried out is something that shocked the entire world. The attackers seemed to know their way around the targets -- in a similar manner as one would go about in his own home! This could have been possible, thanks to the nearly 18 hours of video footage that was made available to the ten gunmen who unleashed violence on Mumbai last year, killing scores of innocent people.
Even as a team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation gets ready to share a mammoth dossier on David Headley and Tawwahur Rana, Indian agencies are bracing themselves to gather information on the duo.
American nationals and relatives of those killed in Mumbai terror attacks want the confessed Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley to take the stand in a New York law suit they have filed against Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence for plotting the attack.
United States President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the extradition of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana to India and said he will face justice.
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