Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday informed that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case against David Coleman Headley and his co-conspirator Tahawwur Hussain Rana in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case.
“A case has been registered (number 9 of 2009) and the NIA will be investigating it”, said Chidambaram.
Headley, 49, was arrested last month in the US for allegedly hatching a conspiracy AT Lashkar-e-Toiba’s behest to carry out a major terror attack in India.
India will also press for extradition of both Headley and his associate Rana as `there is enough evidence to link the duo to LeT`, Home ministry sources said. The proof has been handed over to FBI which will present it before the Chicago court trying the men.
The home minister also confirmed that Headley had travelled to five cities during his visits to India from 2006 to 2009, adding that a probe is on in those particular cities – Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Agra and Delhi - to unravel their network.
The Home Minister also rubbished reports that Indian investigators, who had gone to question Headley in US, were snubbed by the FBI as they were not allowed to question him.
Offering explanation, Chhidambaram said, “The team had gone to Washington to discuss other security related issues rather than to Chicago to question Headley.”
Incidentally, an FBI team headed by its Chief Robert Mueller is coming to India next week to unravel the Indian part of the Headley terror network.
American investigators are also sure that he made multiple trips to Pakistan, where he spent "substantial time" undergoing training from terror groups and that he has also conducted recruitment of cadres for Lashkar in India, to send them to a Gulf country using the services of his immigration business set up in Mumbai.
It has sent alarm bells ringing in the Indian establishment as there have been mysterious disappearances of many accused from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Hyderabad including that of Rahil Sheikh, an alleged mastermind in the 2006 Mumbai serial blasts that left 187 people dead.
