Kochi: Kerala police on Saturday said terror
suspect Tahawwur Rana, arrested by the FBI for his role in
terror attacks in India, had stayed in a hotel here for two
days in November 2008.
While "there are no indications that US citizen David
Headley visited Kerala, we have every reason to believe that
the person who stayed in the hotel was Rana," DGP Jacob
Punnnose told a news agency.
His passport and other emigration records point to this
direction.
Punnnose said the purpose of Rana`s visit was under
investigation. "Whatever information is being collected by
state police is being passed onto the National Investigation
Agency (NIA)," he told reporters earlier.
David Headley, 49-year-old Pakistan-born US citizen, was
arrested in Chicago last month by FBI, which said he was part
of an LeT plan to carry out terror attacks in various places
in India.
Police here had conducted a massive search in hotels to
find out if Headley had visited Kerala, during which they
stumbled upon records of `various Ranas`.
Rana, who came to Kochi with a woman on November 16 last
year and left for Mumbai the next day posing as an emigration
consultant, was arrested along with Headley.
On media reports that an LeT suspect had arrived in
Kochi, Punnnose said there was no such information so far.
Bureau Report
