New Delhi, Dec.6 (ANI): A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team will be visiting Delhi on Monday purportedly to share information with the Indian Government on recently detained Pakistan-origin terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana.
According to sources, the FBI team will be staying in the Indian capital for two days and it is expected that information on Headley and Rana, who were both nabbed in Chicago, will be handed over.
Sources told ANI that US authorities have hinted that some of the material provided to India by the FBI will establish that both terrorists were involved in planning the 26/11 attack.
It may be recalled that during Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh"s recent visit to the United States, both countries had expressed agreement that further cooperation could take place in the area of counter-terrorism through a joint statement.
On the way home from Trinidad and Tobago, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan had revealed that New Delhi had no plans to interrogate either Headley, an alleged Lashkar operative based in the United States of Pakistani origin, or his associate, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, in connection with the 26/11 atatcks on Mumbai.
Narayanan had said then that Washington "is going to send a high powered team from FBI with details of the Headley-Rana interrogation."
"They have exhaustive information and President Obama has instructed the FBI to share everything with us (Indian Government)," Narayanan added.e also revealed that the issue of counter-terrorism did come up for discussion during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh"""s meeting with President Obama.
"Counter-terrorism did come up for discussions between Obama and the Prime Minister. In particular, about the hubs that are coming up in our neighbourhood. It also came up in the Headley-Rana case," the National Security Adviser said.
Narayanan said: "The (US) President promptly said 'we are seized of the matter, we are willing to fully cooperate with whatever information is available. We will send a high-level team with all the data that is available, and this will be with the Indian authorities in a week"""s time"""".
"This sums up what General James Jones said. Headley-Rana, any interrogation agency would love to interrogate people, but we can work around it. The Home Minister (P. Chidambaram) and I will speak to the Director of FBI (Robert S. Mueller III). But, we have already been able to glean a whole lot of information.
Narayanan"""s comments came after British intelligence agencies said they had tipped off the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) about Headley, days before he was arrested.
A UK daily has quoted British agencies as saying that they had collected vital information that identified Headley.
Headley, a US citizen living in Chicago, was arrested in October in connection with the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Headley was in Pakistan at the time of the attacks and was reportedly working on another terror plan codenamed the 'Mickey Mouse Project'.
Rana stayed in a guesthouse in Mumbai close to the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, one of the sites targeted during the attacks, till November 21, 2008 before returning to Chicago.
Headley is also said to have visited the Osho Ashram in Pune.
Apart from his visit to the Taj Mahal hotel in 2007, he also visited New Delhi twice in 2007 and 2009 and stayed in a hotel in Paharganj.
He has also been accused of plotting an attack on the culture editor and cartoonist who published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in one of the leading dailies of Denmark.
On the issue of counter-terrorism, they said General James Jones had had discussions with the Indian team, and added that he had instructions straight from President Obama to share whatever information Washington has on Headley or Rana.
They also said that all interactions between the Indian and American leaderships were held without reservations. (ANI)
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