The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday filed fresh charges against suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley, who was arrested in Chicago in October for plotting terror attacks in India.Headley has been charged with conducting surveillance of several targets in Mumbai for over two years before the terror attack on the city on November 26, 2008, that killed over 170 people, federal law enforcement officials announced today.
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.
The United States administration on Friday said the 35-year sentence without parole imposed on Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley, one of the Mumbai terror attack plotters, marks another step in its efforts to bring to justice those responsible for 26/11.
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.
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.
India is expected to hold a high level meeting on the Tawwahur Rana trial once Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh returns from his Africa tour this Saturday. The matters to be discussed by senior officials are Headley's statements and also what stand to be taken on Rana, sources said.
United States President Barack Obama's top counter terrorism adviser has listed David Headley, the 26/11 terror attack convict, among the high-value targets arrested by the US in the last four years.
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.
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.
Currently in Morocco, David Headley's estranged wife Faiza Outalha accompanied him as he surveyed targets for the 26/11 attacks. She visited Pakistan after her India visit. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Indian establishment may get a leverage while talking to American officials on bilateral efforts of counter-terrorism while the media splashes scary details about what Headley did in India, points out Sheela Bhatt
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.
The Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative also revealed about his training while he deposed in front of a Mumbai court via video link.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
Pakistan has handed over another dossier on Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley to India seeking more information about his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik met Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad, briefing him over the latest development concerning the issue.Headley, an American citizen of Pakistani origin, was arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in October 2009.
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
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.
There has been a huge cover-up of the LeT iceberg in India that helped David Headley and Tahawwur Rana plan the 26/11 terror strike, says B Raman
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.
'Headley's testimony indicates to what extent the Pakistan government and its proxies can go to destroy not only Indian scientific talent but also international expertise.'
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.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Tuesday continued his deposition for the second consecutive day before a court in Mumbai.
India on Wednesday requested the United States to provide it access to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks accused David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, visiting External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said.
Determined to seek the extradition of Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley and access to him, India will raise the issue with US at the official-level during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's four-day visit to the US.
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.
'As Rana is not an Indian citizen, our leverage on the US system -- whether it's their judiciary or the executive -- is very limited in that sense.'
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.
A S Dulat, former Indian spy chief, speak about the implications of the Devid Headley case in an in-depth interview.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley on Wednesday told a United States court that he had conducted a surveillance of the German Bakery in Pune and identified Chabad houses in Delhi, Pushkar and Pune which could be bombed.
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.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, who confessed to plotting the Mumbai terror attacks, had a dual personality that enabled him to switch between a Westerner and a devout Muslim and evade suspicion, according to his maternal uncle. "It could not have been more different between the two worlds. In one world, where he wants to be Pakistani, he was considered to be an American. With Americans, he was being seen as a Muslim. So he had to get used to a duality of life."
Filing the Writ of habeas corpus through his attorney, Rana, 62, challenged his extradition by the Government of India. Rana's extradition would violate the United States-India extradition treaty in two respects, his attorney argued.
Headley, a co-accused who has pleaded guilty, said he was watching TV from his home in Lahore during the 60-hour siege of Mumbai that began on the night of November 26, 2008.
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.