Focus on taking Headley, Rana, Lashkar terror case forward.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team is heading to India later this week to investigate and build a strong case against arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) suspects, US citizen David Coleman Headley and his Canadian accomplice Tahawwur Rana.
US prosecutors are under a tough deadline to complete investigations and file an indictment against Headley by January 1, while Rana is scheduled to be produced before a US court on Thursday when his bail plea comes up for hearing. US prosecutors are seeking an extension till January 14 to file a similar indictment against Rana.
US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald didn’t mention the FBI was seeking India’s help in piecing together evidence, but told Judge James F Holderman at a district court, in Illinois, that investigations are relying on gaining assistance from foreign authorities.
“The goal of any kind of counter-terrorism effort is to cooperate to the fullest extent possible between those global agencies that are fighting terrorism,” a spokesman for the FBI told
DNA over the phone from Washington.
However, it is unclear whether FBI director Robert Mueller will lead the team which may arrive in India on Wednesday. “We do not comment on the director’s travel because of security concerns,” said the spokesman.
This case is a litmus test for India-US intelligence sharing. Both sides need each other to crack the case open and book the guilty. Cooperation has been patchy, which is why Muller may be tempted to travel to India. It was a bad sign when an Indian intelligence team returned home empty-handed last Tuesday after being denied access to Headley and Rana who are lodged in a Chicago jail. The Indians were told the two couldn’t be questioned by outside agencies under US laws while they were in detention.
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