New Delhi: The FBI has politely turned down
India's request for extradition of terror suspect David
Headley to this country 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.
Indian officials were told there was no realistic
possibility of the Pakistani-American being handed over since
the sentence could range between 200 and 300 years of
imprisonment.
The US stand was conveyed to the Indian investigators by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) officials during
their regular interaction to discuss the case related to
Headley, whose links with the banned Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT)
were being probed by the two countries, official sources said
here today.
The polite turning down of the Indian request for
extradition of 49-year-old Headley, arrested in Chicago on
October three last, came in the wake of repeated statements
including that by Union Home Secretary G K Pilai that India
would press for the extradition of the terror suspect.
Pillai had said earlier that India will seek his
extradition after completing investigation by January next
year into his links with the Mumbai terror attacks.
However, FBI seems to be in no mood to hand over him to
India and very politely conveyed that he could be handed over
once the sentence ranging to 300 years is completed. He
can also be sentenced to death, the sources said.
Headley has been charged by the FBI for 26/11 attacks in
Mumbai also on December seven. He is alleged to have conducted
reconnaissance of all targets attacked by Lashker militants on
November 26 last year besides drawing the routemap for their
landing on the Mumbai coast.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, December 27, 2009, 22:47