Twitter
Advertisement

More Headley links in city; no clean chit yet for Rahul Bhatt

Rahul Bhatt, who recently admitted to his association with David Coleman Headley, will be further questioned by the NIA, confirmed Union home secretary GK Pillai on Sunday.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Rahul Bhatt, who recently admitted to his association with David Coleman Headley, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative being probed by the FBI for plotting terror attacks in India and elsewhere, has not yet been given a clean chit. He will be further questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), confirmed Union home secretary GK Pillai on Sunday, even as two more persons from Mumbai came under the scanner for their links with Headley.

The duo, a man who collected a suitcase belonging to Headley and a professional photographer who was closely acquainted with the American citizen, will prove crucial in taking the case forward, sources said.

Apparently, when Headley was leaving India after shutting down his Immigration Law Centre at AC Market, Tardeo, he had left the suitcase with his secretary, a Parsi woman. A man had subsequently collected it. “We want to know the contents of the suitcase and the kind of relations the man had with Headley,” a source said.

Home ministry sources also revealed that the NIA and other investigating agencies were keeping a close tab on three of Rahul’s friends and could interrogate them in the coming days. Two of them are reportedly connected with Bollywood and their interrogation could throw more light on Headley’s operations in Mumbai, the sources added. Turn to p10

Adding another twist to the case was a phone call made more than two weeks ago, between Sheikh Abdul Rehman Saeed, the Pakistan-based LeT commander who was in touch with Headley and his associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana, and a Keralite, who shuttles between his state and Saudi Arabia.

Shameer, the Keralite, received the call on a local mobile number, and sources believe it was Saeed at the other end. Headley and Rana are said to have travelled to Kochi, in Kerala; if home ministry sources are to be believed, Rana had in fact visited Kochi with his wife, Samraz, and had returned to Mumbai 10 days before the 26/11 attacks.

Sources said the phone call also poses crucial questions regarding LeT’s links to Kerala. Pillai said a team of NIA sleuths will be visiting Kerala for further investigations.
Meanwhile, Pillai emphasised that the home ministry has “not given a clean chit to anyone. Investigations are still on”. 

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement