In revelations that clearly show Inter Services Intelligence's role in the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley has told his interrogators that the Pakistani intelligence agency had paid Rs 25 lakh to Lashkar-e-Tayiba to purchase a boat, which terrorists used to travel from Karachi.
The worst-ever attack on a police force by Maoists, the blast in Pune at the beginning and the Varanasi explosion at the end of the year blotted the copybook of the security forces, which otherwise kept 2010 free from terror.
India [ Images ] secured an assurance from Pakistan on Thursday that it would act on the leads given by Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley to unravel the conspiracy behind the Mumbai terror attacks even as the two countries agreed to continue their dialogue.
The major thrust of the meeting is on anti-India terrorism that continues to emanate from Pakistan.
The interesting link that has emerged is that of the retired Pakistan Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed also known as Pasha. The Pasha link to the case vindicates India's stand that several persons from within the Pakistan establishment were involved in the horrific Mumbai attack. Apart from helping David Headley with his mission, Pasha is the man responsible for bridging the Inter-Services-Intelligence Ilyas Kashmiri gap in a bid to launch a global jihad.
Working on a plot more sinister than the Mumbai attack, David Headley and his Pakistani handlers, Illyas Kashmiri in particular, were to behead the heads of the hostages and throw the heads out of the window for their planned terrorist strike in Copenhagen.
While Pakistani handler Sajid Mir and ISI's Major Iqbal are both in the dock in the Chicago court where Tahawwur Rana is being tried for his role in the 26/11 terror attacks, Mir remains Pakistan's biggest worry. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
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.
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.
Mumbai attacks co-accused David Headley on Wednesday testified that New Delhi-based National Defence College is on the hitlist of terrorists as 26/11 mastermind Illiyas Kashmiri believes in this way he can kill more Indian brigadiers than what the Pakistan Army could not do in four wars with India.
According to sources privy to the investigations, the 49-year-old American national, arrested from Chicago airport and currently in FBI custody, spent considerable time at the Golf course and the National Investigation Agency is now recording the statement of witnesses.
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.
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.
India has provided Pakistan further details about involvement of Jamaat-ud-Dawaa chief Hafiz Saeed in Mumbai terror attacks on the basis of disclosures made by Pakistani-American Lashker operative David Headley and made it clear that action against him and other handlers would be a major confidence building measure.
The government on Thursday said documents related to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley's visa were yet to be traced while those of his associate Tahawwur Rana had been found, contradicting claims by Indian Consulate in Chicago that no papers had gone missing.
Rahul Bhatt, son of Bollywood film director Mahesh Bhatt, was questioned by investigators to probe his association with suspected Lashkar terrorist David Headley during the Pakistani-American terror suspect's stay in Mumbai.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on Wednesday said that a Letters Rogatory shall be obtained from the special Mumbai court -- where the 26/11 terror attack trial is currently going on -- seeking information about Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives David Headley and Tahawwur Rana and their involvement in the terror strike.Letters Rogatory is 'a customary method of obtaining judicial assistance from abroad in the absence of a treaty or executive agreement between two countries.
Indications that US terror suspect David Headley could have been a "double agent" for American agencies and Pakistan-based outfits have become clearer for Indian investigators with mounting evidence coming there way.
US prosecutors have filed a memorandum, opposing the bail petition of terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana, charged with plotting terror attacks in India and Denmark.
Sheela Bhatt reveals the inside story on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's revelations to India on the Headley-Rana case, and of how the findings have changed the 26/11 investigation in India.
After much delay and discussions, the interrogation of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley by a team of the National Investigation Agency has finally come to an end.Sources close to the members of the investigating team told rediff.com that the Pakistani American terror operative proved to be a tough nut to crack.Headley was well prepared to face the NIA team's questions and throughout the interrogations, he stuck to the earlier responses.
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.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley's cell-phone and his Chicago apartment were registered in the names of dead persons and investigations have found that he was leading a double life under directions from the Pakistan-based terror outfit, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Meanwhile, a team of officials from the FBI and the Justice Department headed to Pakistan from Delhi today to follow up on leads after briefing Indian authorities.
An Indian who used the services of Mumbai-based immigration offices of terror suspects David Headley and Tahawwur Rana has been deported by US authorities to India after his documents were allegedly found to be false. The person (name withheld) hailing from Gujarat arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi early on Thursday morning, airport sources said.
Despite fervent efforts to depict Tahawwur Hussain Rana as a man of peace and a reader of Muhammad Iqbal's poetry, a Chicago judge refused to grant 48-year-old Rana bail, on Wednesday, and slated December 16 for a response from the government.
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.
A four-member team of Indian investigators will leave for the US on Sunday for interrogating 26/11 conspirator David Headley.
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.
After arriving in Pakistan, Headley began training with terrorists, eventually playing a key role in the 26/11 attacks that left 166 people dead in Mumbai in 2008, The New York Times reported quoting court records and interviews.
As Indian and American investigators dug deeper into the David Headley case, some Bollywood stars who had reportedly interacted with the American terror suspect during his stay in Mumbai in 2007-2009, are likely to be questioned.
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.
Arrested terrorist Tahawwur Hussain Rana may have been the one who had arranged for the fake student identification cards carried by Ajmal Kasab and nine other terrorists, who were involved in the Mumbai attacks in 2008, said intelligence sources.
Security expert B Raman deciphers the FBI affidavit against Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the Pakistan-origin Canadian arrested with David Headley for alleged Lashkar connections, and speculates who could be their handlers in Pakistan.
The National Investigative Agency on Thursday registered a case against Pakistan-born United States citizen Headley and his aide Canadian-born Tahawwur Hussain Rana, in connection with the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai. Headley and Rana, both suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives, were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation from Chicago in late October. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said government agencies are probing both Headley and Rana's terror links.
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.
The Maharashtra government's decision to appeal against the acquittal of Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin largely depends on India's interrogation of Lashkar operative David Headley.
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 United States has admitted that two of the three wives of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley had multiple conversations with its officials in 2007 and 2008 about his radical connection, but they could not provide any specific information about the time and place of the terror attacks.
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."
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.
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