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A team of Indian investigators arrived in the United States on Tuesday to interrogate Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley, who helped plan the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
The team comprises officers of the National Investigation Agency and a law officer. The 49-year-old Pakistani-American will be facing direct questions from Indian investigators for the first time since his arrest in October last year. Besides the Indian team, those expected to be present during the questioning would be Headley's lawyer and an officer of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Headley, who is currently lodged in the federal lock-up of the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Chicago, will be interrogated about the places he had visited after the Mumbai terror attacks and the people he had remained in touch with during his stay in India. Sources in India said the four-member team has prepared questions about his stay in the country, especially during March 2009, his last visit to India.
The travel details of Headley, the globe-trotting prized asset of the LeT, are being sought as investigators believe that this visit may have been to finalise the synchronised terror strikes on Jewish centres located in five cities, the sources said.
Headley's statement will be recorded by the special law officer of India after which the NIA, which has registered a case against Headley and Pakistani-Canadian national Tahawwur Rana for waging war against the country, may file a charge-sheet against him.
Headley, a Chicago-based American with roots in Pakistan, has confessed to conducting the reconnaissance of likely targets in Mumbai as part of the planning for the ghastly attacks that killed 166 people in the country's financial capital in November 2008.
After being arrested in October last year, the 49-year old entered into a plea bargain with the US government in March this year, wherein he offered to be available to foreign investigators through deposition, video conferencing or letters rogatory. However, further details including the duration for which the Indian team will get access to Headley have not been disclosed.
Headley's lawyer John Theis said last week that he will not comment on any specific details of such an access and 'would not be able to share specific information at this point' as to when and for how long the Indian team can question Headley.
The team has been sent following a communication from the US Justice Department that all concerned officials and Headley's lawyer will be available during their visit to facilitate their access to the LeT operative.