NIA team to be set up to question Headley
March 22nd, 2010 - 7:10 pm ICT by IANS ( Leave a comment )
New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) India will soon form a team of investigators, including sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), to question Pakistani American terror suspect David Headley, who has pleaded guilty in a US court for his role in the Mumbai terror attacks.
The team, according to an official, will also comprise home ministry officials.
“The team that will also include some home ministry officials is likely to visit the US soon after it is formed. We are also preparing a set of questions to interrogate Headley and will also start a judicial process soon,” an official told IANS on condition of anonymity as the government wants the process to be conducted away from the media glare.
The official said the NIA had also been asked by Home Minister P. Chidambaram to initiate the process and file charges against Headley, who is in a US jail and has confessed to having plotted the 2008 Mumbai terror attack with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan.
Headley Thursday entered into a plea bargain with prosecutors in the US; he will be spared the death sentence and extradition to India or Denmark, where he is also alleged to have schemed terror attacks.
The NIA has registered a case against Headley but has not formally charged him in a court or started a judicial process against him.
The development comes two days after Attorney General and head of the US Justice Department Eric Holder spoke with Chidambaram over the phone, assuring him that India will have early access to Headley to interrogate him, possibly in a pre-trial stage.
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- Home ministry gives nod to charges against Headley (Lead) - Dec 21, 2011
- US assures India of early access to Headley - Mar 20, 2010
- India prepares for Headley interrogation, US assures access (Roundup) - Mar 20, 2010
- NIA to finalise charges against Rana after US trial - May 16, 2011
- India, US to issue statement on Headley's interrogation: Chidambaram - May 31, 2010
- 26/11: NIA files charges against Headley, eight others (Lead) - Dec 24, 2011
- India will insist on direct access to Headley (Lead) - Mar 24, 2010
- India confident of getting 'direct' access to Headley - Mar 24, 2010
- NIA charges against Headley, Pakistani terrorists soon - Dec 05, 2011
- US hedges on access to Headley, BJP decries 'flip-flop' (Second Lead) - Mar 23, 2010
- No decision on joining US lawsuit against ISI: Chidambaram - Jun 01, 2011
- India's charges against Headley may make no material difference (Comment) - Dec 22, 2011
- No decision on giving India direct access to Headley: US (Lead) - Mar 23, 2010
Tags: anonymity, david headley, death sentence, eric holder, extradition, glare, home minister, home ministry, interrogate, investigation agency, lashkar e taiba, ministry officials, national investigation, p chidambaram, plea bargain, prosecutors, sleuths, terror attack, trial stage, us justice department