Zeenews Bureau
Chicago: Pakistani-American David Coleman
Headley, charged with conspiring in the Mumbai terror attacks,
pleaded guilty before a US court on late Thursday night in an apparent bid to bargain for a lighter sentence and escape death penalty.
49-year-old Headley, who was arrested by the FBI in
October last year, had moved a plea bargain at a court here
which was heard before US District Judge Harry Leinenweber.
Headley was brought in chains in an orange jumpsuit in the court room and the judge asked him if he was in his senses to which Headley agreed.
Headley, an LeT operative who had pleaded not guilty
to the 12-count superseding indictment filed against him on
January 14, had yesterday moved for a "change of plea".
In his admission, Headley said he had done 'recce for two terror groups in India and Denmark'. He also claimed to have used his 'friend's immigration firm for surveillance work'.
The judge then read out all the charges to which Headley pleaded guilty. The judge then assured him that he will not be awarded the death penalty nor be extradited to any other country. India has been asking for his extradition for trial in Mumbai terror attack case.
A Chicago resident, Headley faces six counts of
conspiracy involving bombing public places in India, murdering
and maiming persons in India and providing material support to
foreign terrorist plots and LeT; and six counts of aiding and
abetting the murder of US citizens in India.
He is also charged with plotting attacks against a
Danish newspaper which published a cartoon of Prophet
Mohammad.
The court did not fix any date for his sentence till the time of filing this report.
Indian security establishment feel if Headley is
awarded lesser sentence, it would lend credence to suspicions
that he may have been a double agent, working for both
American agencies and LeT.
Indian officials, who have been watching the progress
in the case at Chicago, is somewhat worried about reports
emanating from there that Headley would be pleading guilty in
an attempt to get a lighter sentence.
As Headley prepared to change his plea to guilty,
media here said he may be bargaining for life in prison.
"...with prosecutors having the cooperation of a man
inside the conspiracy that allegedly carried out the 2008
terrorist attack in Mumbai," a Chicago Public Radio report
said.
"These co-conspirators do not tape record what they
are doing internally so there is no real way to find out what
happened inside these secretive associations unless you get
somebody who is inside to cooperate with you," it said.
ABC7News termed it as a "triumph for federal terrorism
prosecutors".
"In a triumph for federal terrorism prosecutors in
Chicago, accused Mumbai attack planner David Coleman Headley
will plead guilty. The change of plea comes five months after
Headley, an American-Islamic fundamentalist, was arrested at
his Chicago home by the FBI," it said in a report.
The report further said the guilty plea "comes as a
blow to the defense of accused co-conspirator Tahawwur Hussain
Rana", who was arrested and charged a few weeks after Headley.
"Their alleged partnership is odd and was born out of
Muslim extremism," it added.
The 'Chicago SunTimes' said some of Headley's
cooperation laid the groundwork for an indictment against
Pakistani-Canadian Rana, who ran an immigration business in
the city that was used as a cover for Headley's trips to
India.
If convicted, Headley faces maximum death penalty.
John Theis, Headley's lawyer, said his client will
plead guilty, but declined to comment on whether he would do
so to all the charges against him.
The American terror suspect had got away with a lesser
sentence after he was arrested in 1998 for smuggling heroin
into the US from Pakistan as he cooperated with the
investigation in the case.
He was sentenced to less than two years in prison and
thereafter went to Pakistan to conduct undercover surveillance
operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
-PTI inputs
First Published: Friday, March 19, 2010, 01:00