Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: India has finally got the go-ahead from the US to interrogate Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Coleman Headley, accused of involvement in the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Three officers of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and a law officer will travel to Chicago and are expected to interrogate Headley next week, official sources said.
The team is being sent following a communication from the US Justice Department that all concerned officials and the lawyer of Headley will be available during the visit of the Indian team to facilitate their access to Headley.
The NIA has already registered a case against Headley but has not formally charged him in a court or started a judicial process against him.
Headley, a Chicago-based American with roots in Pakistan, has already confessed to have conducted several reccees as part of the planning for the ghastly attacks that killed 166 people in the country`s financial capital in November 2008.
After being arrested in October last year, the 49-year old entered into a plea bargain with the US government in March this year, wherein he offered to be available to foreign investigators through deposition, video conferencing or letters rogatory.
While addressing the media earlier this week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that India has been assured by the US "at the highest level" of access to Headley, the Pakistani American who has been convicted for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
"We have been assured at the highest level of access," the Prime Minister had said when asked about the delay in granting permission to India to interrogate Headley, who plea bargained with the US authorities to escape the death penalty and is now in a Chicago prison.
Indian investigating authorities have been seeking access to Headley so that they could interrogate him on his role in the Mumbai terrorist attack that killed more than 160 people in November 2008.
With PTI inputs
