Access to Headley next week, team leaves today

The team, comprising three National Investigation Agency officers and a law officer, expects to be allowed to question Headley, in the presence of his lawyers and FBI officials, early next week.

A team of Indian investigators will leave for Chicago on Sunday to interrogate American-Pakistani David Headley.

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The team, comprising three National Investigation Agency officers and a law officer, expects to be allowed to question Headley, in the presence of his lawyers and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials, early next week, a government official said on Saturday.

Headley has pleaded guilty in a US court to having helped the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba carry out the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

The team is being sent following a message from the US Justice Department that concerned officials and Headley’s lawyer would be available during the team’s visist to facilitate access to Headley.

Headley (49), son of a Pakistani diplomat, made a plea bargain with the US in March, saying he’d cooperate with foreign investigators on the 26/11 case. The court will pronounce his jail sentence after the conclusion of this cooperation.

Home Ministry officials said, however, they did not expect a lot of new information from Headley. At best, he might give details of the kind he’d passed on to the Lashkar. They also said the ‘regulated access’ would make it difficult to clarify doubts on whether Headley was working for US security agencies too and had informed them of 26/11 in advance.