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Sunday, March 21, 2010
US to allow India to quiz David Headley: Chidambaram
NEW DELHI: The US will allow India to question David Coleman Headley, who has confessed to ‘scoping’ out sites for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday. The assurance came following a telephone conversation between Chidambaram and US Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday, the minister said in New Delhi. “It is my understanding that India would be able to obtain access to David Coleman Headley to question him in a properly constituted judicial proceeding,” Chidambaram said in a statement. Headley pleaded guilty on Thursday to 12 terrorism charges after US prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty or to allow the suspect to be extradited to India. US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake, currently on a two-day trip to New Delhi, confirmed that the Indian authorities could quiz Headley, but ruled out his extradition, the Press Trust of India reported. Chidambaram said he directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other agencies “to quickly prepare the documents needed to start judicial proceedings, where Indian authorities could require Headley to answer questions and to testify.” iftikhar gilani/afp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk