India to press for Headley’s extradition

The duo were booked under Unlawful Activites (Prevention) Act and for conspiring to wage war against the country.

Maintaining that Headley had visited India “several times before 26/11 and once after” the Mumbai terror strikes,Chidambaram said “we are conducting investigations in the cities he visited to find out whom he met and what he did.”

The Mumbai attack last November left 183 persons dead. In a related development,a top Home Ministry official claimed that the investigators had enough evidence to show Headley’s link with LeT and that the Government is all set to produce the documents before the US court in January next and press for their extradition to India.

“We will press for his extradition to India with these evidence,” the official said.

Headley had also visited Kochi and Pune besides four other cities,including Delhi,where he had come in 2008,the official said.

The investigators were now trying to find out whether Headley and his accomplice Rana,also arrested in the US,were involved in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and whether handlers of the duo and attackers of Mumbai were same.

“The process of verification on his (Headley) visit to India between 2006-09 was on and we will be able to give a clear picture only after a week,” the official said.

A team of Indian officials will visit the US again in January when the FBI will file its chargesheet against Headley and Rana,the sources said,adding a team of FBI officials may come to India to assist in the investigation,if required.

The US Embassy meanwhile clarified that FBI Director Robert S Mueller was not visiting India following some reports in this regard.