M A I N   N E W S

India to get direct access to Headley
Ashish Kumar Sen in Washington DC

Top justice officials from India and the U.S. on Tuesday agreed to work toward providing India direct access to David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani American who had admitted to carrying out reconnaissance ahead of the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

Gopal Subramanium, the solicitor general of India, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder discussed access to Headley in their meeting in Washington.

"The two partners agreed to take suitable steps to bring about direct access by Indian authorities to David Headley as soon as possible," said Rahul Chhabra, a spokesman for the Indian Embassy in Washington, after the meeting.

Chhabra said India and the United States recognise the high priority to be accorded to each country’s national security and both countries "recognised the need for the investigations to reach a fruitful and successful outcome." India's ambassador to the U.S., Meera Shankar, attended the meetings with the Justice Department officials.Headley last month reversed his not guilty plea to admit that he participated in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

He admitted to attending training camps in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Toiba on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005. In late 2005, Headley received instructions from three members of LeT to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times leading up to the Mumbai attacks three years later that killed 164 persons, including six Americans, among approximately 164 persons and wounded more.