New Delhi/Mumbai: The probe against
American terror suspects David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain
Rana has found the duo were in Pakistan when Lashker-e-Taiba
(LeT) terrorists had attacked Mumbai on November 26 last year
killing more than 180 people.
Investigators, probing the terror links on Headley and
Rana have found that both the suspects were moving freely in
Pakistan, from where the Mumbai attackers had come and
unleashed bloodbath in the metropolis for four days, senior
Home Ministry official said here.
He said India has approached Canada to get more
information abour Rana, a Candaian citizen of Pakistani
origin. "We are liasoning with Canada government," he said
adding Rana was the "money bag" of the two.
More than 20 teams of sleuths of National Investigation
Agency, a prosecuting agency established in the aftermath of
26/11, have been entrusted to probe Headley-Rana trail and
central security agencies have been formed for gathering
information about the places the duo had visited between 2006
and 2009.
Apart from staying in five star hotels in places like
Mumbai, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai, Headley and Rana had also
stayed with some "private parties" who were being questioned
by security agencies.
In a related development, NIA, which has booked Headley
and Rana under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for
conspiring to wage a war against country, has asked filmmaker
Mahesh Bhatt`s son Rahul, who became an acquaintance of
Headley during his stay in Mumbai, not to leave the city.
The Home Ministry official said the probe team will
again question Rahul as it was quite natural for anyone not
being able to tell everything of meetings with Headley in one
or two questioning sessions.
"It is a long and detailed probe covering all aspects of
Headley who had visited India nine times in three years, and
Rana, who had travelled across India extensively," the
official said.
NIA officials in Kochi
National Investigation Agency
officials have arrived in Kochi to probe the activities of
Tahawwur Hassan Rana, arrested by FBI along with US national
of Pakistan origin David Headley, for suspected links with
LeT.
The officials visited the five-star hotel, where Rana,
along with a woman accomplice had stayed on November 16 and 17
last year posing as immigration consultant and collected
copies of passports and information about his other activities
during his stay in Kochi, official sources said.
Kerala Police had said yesterday that Rana had visited
Kochi before the Mumbai terror strikes. "A man named Tahawwur
Hussain Rana had stayed in a hotel in Kochi on November 16. We
are checking the details," DGP Jacob Punnoose said on Sunday.
Rana, who arrived in Kochi on November 16, 2008, along
with a woman called Samraz Akthar, had checked into a five-
star hotel here and left for Mumbai the next afternoon, police
sources said.
Headley and Rana were arrested by FBI for their links
with LeT which was behind the Mumbai attacks in which 183
people were killed.
Bureau Report
