New Delhi, December 17
Contradictory statements emerged from the South Block on whether visa papers of terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana were indeed missing from the Indian Consulate in Chicago.

A day after Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said she had sought a factual report from the Indian Consul General in Chicago on the alleged disappearance of the duo’s visa applications, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor told reporters on Thursday that Rana’s visa papers had been found but Headley’s were being traced.

Hours later, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said it would not be accurate to conclude that the visa applications of Headley and Rana were missing. All relevant information in this regard was being shared with investigating agencies. He said the visas to Headley and Rana were issued on July 18, 2007 and March 3, 2006, respectively. A one-year business visa was issued to Rana on October 31, 2008.

The statement made by the ministry’s top boss, Foreign Minister SM Krishna, earlier on Thursday apparently led to the confusion. He said the government had sought a report from its consulate in Chicago over the alleged disappearance of Headley’s visa papers. “We have asked for a preliminary report from the Consul General in Chicago. After I get the report, we will see how we can proceed with it.’’

News channels, meanwhile, quoted a senior official of the Indian Consulate in Chicago as saying that the applications of Headley and Rana were not missing and relevant information in the regard was available with the government.

The National Investigation Agency is currently probing the visa application process for Headley and Rana as part of its investigations into their roles in the 26/11 attacks.

Though the Foreign Secretary had on Wednesday stated that India was receiving full cooperation from the US in investigating the duo’s link with the Mumbai carnage, there is a sense of disappointment with Washington in the Foreign Office for not allowing Indian officials access to Headley.

The Headley-Rana issue also figured in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday with the BJP and Left parties wanting to know if the US was cooperating in investigations. Some members wondered if there were differences between the External Affairs Ministry and the Home Ministry over the investigation process.

Washington, December 17
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has denied that Pakistan-born US national David Coleman Headley, a key suspect in the 26/11 terror attacks, was its agent at any point of time.

“I can't comment on an ongoing investigation, but any suggestion that this individual worked for the CIA is wrong,” said CIA spokesperson Marie E. Harf.

Headley has been charged in a federal court with conspiring to commit terror attacks outside the US and providing material support to terrorist organisations. Media reports in India and the US, quoting unnamed officials, have said Headley could have been a “double agent”, working for the CIA as well as Pakistani terror groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which carried out the Mumbai attacks that killed nearly 170 Indians and foreigners.

Headley, now in a Chicago jail, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on October 3 while planning to go to Pakistan via Philadelphia. Meanwhile, US strategic think tank Stratfor says it is difficult to establish if Headley was indeed a double agent.

“At present, it is very difficult to ascertain if Headley was a double agent who was really reporting to LeT and the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HUJI) or if he was merely a rogue informant who was playing both ends against the middle for his own personal benefit,” it said.

“Such rogue sources have been seen in jihadist cases before. If Headley was either a double agent or a rogue source, there may be some significant blowback for the US government as further revelations are made about the case.”

The US authorities say that in order to conduct surveillance for the Mumbai attacks, Headley made five extended trips to the city between September, 2006, and July, 2008. During each trip, Headley reportedly took pictures and made videos of various targets, including those attacked in November, 2008. — IANS 

New Delhi, December 17
In the seemingly unending saga of terror suspect David Headley, investigators have now found that a Pakistani woman, who is not his wife, accompanied Headley in Mumbai. Also, he used fake currency to finance his stay and high-spending lifestyle in India.

He was “trained” by Pakistan army in sophisticated code language and fact checking besides skills of using e-mails, sources in Indian investigating agencies said.

Sources today confirmed that a woman flew in from Pakistan and joined Headley in Mumbai. This woman is not his Chicago-based wife. She was used as a cover up and was just used by Headley to put up a façade of being a normal family person staying at Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai. It was being ascertained if the woman was his “friend” or an operative of the Pakistan-based Lakshar-e-Toiba. If the latter is correct, that signals a shift in trend as the LeT has not used women in such missions so far. Investigators have found gaps in the spending patterns of Headley. The money he spent does not match up with legal means like credit cards or other transactions. The sources said there is a clear pattern that he was plied with fake currency by the LeT, which he used freely in India. India has long held that Pakistan was the fountain head of pumping fake currency into India.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Headley had deeper links with the Pakistani Defence establishment. It was known that he was in contact with Brigadier Iqbal and now it has found that he was also trained in methods to carry out reconnaissance and procure weapons etc.

US intelligence think tank ‘Stratfor’ released its assessment on Headley this morning (India time), saying that the extensive use of “terrorist tradecraft show that he wasn’t merely a low-level cannon fodder-type operative”. ‘Stratfor’ is one of the quoted references in the community of intelligence gatherers.

Separately, Opposition parties, in Rajya Sabha, today asked the government to spell out the cooperation that the US had extended in probe against David Headley and his accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana. The BJP, SP and Left parties questioned in the Rajya Sabha whether the US had passed on the information related to Headley and Rana, Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives held in Chicago in October and charged with conspiracy in Mumbai attacks.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said the case was becoming more curious. He wanted to know on whose behalf Headley had been acting and sought a statement from the government and asked for progress made by the National Investigating Agency.