NIA officials in Kochi

National Investigation Agency officials have arrived in kochi to probe the activities of Tahawwur Hassan Rana, arrested by FBI along with US national of Pakistan origin David Headley, for suspected links with LeT.

National Investigation Agency officials have arrived in Kochi to probe the activities of Tahawwur Hassan Rana, arrested by FBI along with US national of Pakistan origin David Headley, for suspected links with LeT.

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The officials visited the five-star hotel, where Rana, along with a woman accomplice had stayed on November 16 and 17 last year posing as immigration consultant and collected copies of passports and information about his other activities during his stay in Kochi, official sources said.

Kerala Police had said yesterday that Rana had visited Kochi before the Mumbai terror strikes. "A man named Tahawwur Hussain Rana had stayed in a hotel in Kochi on November 16. We are checking the details," DGP Jacob Punnoose said on Sunday.

Rana, who arrived in Kochi on November 16, 2008, along with a woman called Samraz Akthar, had checked into a five-star hotel here and left for Mumbai the next afternoon, police sources said.

Headley and Rana were arrested by FBI for their links with LeT which was behind the Mumbai attacks in which 183 people were killed.