New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) The US national arrested in Chicago last month on charges of plotting terror strikes visited India several times before the Nov 26 attacks in Mumbai last year, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Tuesday.
The home minister said the government would look into the possible connection between David Coleman Headley and the terror attacks in Mumbai that claimed about 170 lives.

Chidambaram, however, could not say if there was any link between Headley and the 26/11 attacks.

“I can’t say,” Chidambaram told reporters on the margins of India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum when asked if Headley was also involved in the Mumbai terror attacks that claimed 170 lives.

“Headley visited India several times before 26/11 and, therefore, there’s something we have to necessarily look into,” said the home minister.

“But as of now, I can’t say if there was a link or not.”

Headley was arrested at Chicago airport on charges of plotting a major terror attack in India at the behest of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Information provided earlier by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US had revealed that Headley operated a visa agency in Mumbai for almost two years until July 2008 and had travelled to India on business visas nine times between 2006 and 2009.

The FBI, however, has refused to let a five-member intelligence team from India that visited the US recently to question Headley to ascertain whether he was in touch with the masterminds of the LeT.

The team, comprising officers of the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence agency, and the Intelligence Bureau, was also keen to know if Headley attended any of the training camps the 10 Pakistan-based terrorists went through for the 26/11 terror strikes.

Earlier in his address at the summit, the minister admitted there were threats in various parts of the country, but argued that it was the case with many other countries.

“We are not more vulnerable than any other country. It’s wrong to think that we are more vulnerable, or in the crosshair of many groups,” he said.

“But that does not affect our capacity to promote investment or industrial development,” Chidambaram told industry leaders gathered at the summit.

“We have had many successes in thwarting attacks, and there were no attacks since 26/11.”

On the Maoist challenge, the minister said: “They have significant presence in mineral-rich states. But we have the capacity to gain the total control in two to three years over these areas.”

Chidambaram also said that the growing economy and an increasing economic disparity among several regions were giving rise to social unrest in several parts of the country.