Intelligence official from US meets PC

Ahead of the court hearing in Chicago in which Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative David Coleman Headley, facing terror charges, is expected to plead guilty, a top US intelligence official met Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday.

Ahead of the court hearing in Chicago in which Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative David Coleman Headley, facing terror charges, is expected to plead guilty, a top US intelligence official met Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday.

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While India could get access, if at all, to Headley only after his conviction, New Delhi was also interested in questioning Headley's American wife for more details of his activities, an official, who refused to be identified, said.

Intelligence Bureau chief Rajiv Mathur is understood to have made the demand when he met US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dennis C. Blair. Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) S.C. Sinha and other top intelligence officials were also present.

The NIA believes that Headley’s wife knows of his activities during his stay in the sub-continent. Headley, 49, is married to two women, including a Moroccan who lives in Pakistan.

Blair later met Chidambaram with a delegation of forensic officials. The minister, who will visit the UK this weekend, intends to focus on upgrading forensic capacities. There was no word on what was talked at this meeting.

India is, however, understood to have taken up terrorism emanating from Afghanistan-Pakistan region with Blair.