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.
The United States, which foiled a major terror plot by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba to target India, has cited legal limitations in allowing Indian investigators to quiz arrested operatives David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana. US National Security Adviser James Jones said President Barack Obama has shown personal interest in the Headley-Rana case and the matter was discussed during his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.
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
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.
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.
To a question, Headley further clarified that he had informed the NIA that 'this woman (Jahan) was an Indian and an LeT operative' but could not explain why this was not recorded in his statement.
The United States will inform India by next week about possible dates, most likely in this month, for giving direct access to Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley.
akistani-American David Coleman Headley outline how the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Inter-Services Intelligence wanted to spread terror in India.
Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, coordinator for counter-terrorism at the United States department of state, has made it abundantly clear that his office will not influence law enforcement authorities via any diplomatic lobbying to provide India with direct access to Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley. Pakistani-American Headley was part of the conspiracy for the horrific terror attacks that shook Mumbai on November 26, 2008 and left 166 people dead.
India will send a letter to the United States by the end of this week seeking direct access to David Headley, who pleaded guilty to 12 terror charges of conspiracy involving bombing public places in India and is currently in American custody.
The four member National Investigative Agency team has concluded questioning of Mumbai terror suspect David Coleman Headley and has headed back home, Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar said on Thursday.
Encouraged by the role played by David Coleman Headley in the Mumbai terror attacks, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba had assigned another job to the Pakistani- origin Chicago resident -- surveillance of Jewish Chabad houses in several Indian cities -- for possible future strikes on the lines of 26/11. The fresh indictment filed against Headley, along with his school friend Tahawwur Hussein Rana, alleged that in March 2009, Headley conducted surveillance of various targets in India.
Indian investigators, who conducted a detailed probe into the David Headley link to the Mumbai 26/11 case, would wait before they can file a charge-sheet against the man who pleaded guilty before an American court.
Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, charged with conspiring in the Mumbai terror attacks, is set to plead guilty before a US court in an apparent bid to bargain for a lighter sentence and escape death penalty.
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.
Faiza Outalha, an estranged wife of American-born Lashkar e Tayiba terrorist David Headley, has replied to all questions of the National Investigation Agency relating to her knowledge of the conspiracy behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
India has said that it would like to get "access" to arrested US terror suspects David Coleman Headley and his accomplice Tahawwur Rana for interrogation following incriminating evidence about their role in the Mumbai attacks.
Terming the sentencing of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley as a "positive example" of Indo-US counterterrorism cooperation, the United States defended the verdict, saying justice has been served as promised.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Thursday exposed how Inter-Services Intelligence and Lashkar-e-Tayiba majorly funded terror operations in India.
India on Thursday said it will seek access to Tahawwur Rana, an accomplice of convicted terrorist David Headley from the United States and maintained that its demand for their extradition "continues to stand" to take forward its legal processes in Mumbai terror strike cases.
India will have "full access" to all the information on terror suspect David Headley, who pleaded guilty before a Chicago court to all 12 terror charges including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, US Assistance Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake said in New Delhi on Friday.
India is expected to get information about the plans and network of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana next week when a high-level team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation visits New Delhi with "all details" of their probe.
Law enforcement sources rubbished allegations that Headley was a double agent for US intelligence and that this was why he was not being made available for interrogation by Indian intelligence.
Union Home minister Rajnath Singh asked Opposition parties if they were prepared to apologise to the nation for their "malicious campaign" against PM Modi over the killing of Ishrat Jehan.
A team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, headed by its chief Robert Mueller, will visit New Delhi on November 18 to investigate the Indian links of David Headley -- the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative arrested in Chicago in early October.During its two-day visit, the team will probe the US citizen's links with the LeT and also try to find out information about the terror network he allegedly set up in India, said sources.
Headley also said that LeT boss Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the November 2008 attack that killed 166 persons, motivated him for carrying out a 'jihad'. Saeed told him that the satisfaction of one second of 'jihad' is equal to "100 years of worship."
The LeT was more interested in a spectacular operation in India than in Denmark. The 313 Brigade was more interested in a spectacular operation in Denmark than in India. It was the FBI's successful monitoring of the plans for an attack in Copenhagen which led to Headley's arrest and the subsequent discovery of his role in India, says B Raman
India is also keen to interrogate Headley in a way that is legally acceptable in a court in the country. Headley has confessed to playing a crucial role in the Mumbai attacks.
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.
A Mumbai court on Thursday pardoned Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley, who had surveyed targets for the 26/11 attacks, and made him an approver in the case, a move that may unravel the conspiracy behind the brazen terror assault.
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.
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.
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.
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.
India indicated the possibility of gaining access to terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana, both arrested by FBI, once they are "indicted" by the US.
'India simply wasn't prepared for the fact that a natural-born American could be organising a major terror plot in their country. And they didn't look for people like him.' 'Headley is one of the most complex and interesting terrorists of the last many years.'
India has asked Morocco to extradite the estranged wife of David Coleman Headley, the alleged mastermind of November 2008 Mumbai terror attack, as she is believed to have information and answers to key questions related to the incident.
The US-based wife of American-born LeT terrorist David Headley and his business partner have "refused" to answer questions posed by NIA, citing a privacy clause.
'We will continue to probe the Fahim Ansari angle since there is one stark similarity between him and Headley. Both men were in touch with the man called Sajid Mir.'
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