US to give India access to Headley

NEW DELHI, MARCH 20
US today assured India that it can interrogate terror accused David Headley following which Home Minister P Chidambaram directed National Investigating Agency (NIA) to prepare the questions for him.
Chidambaram also said that Headley has admitted to conspiring with Lashkar-e-Toiba members and to attending their camps which should now “spur” Pakistan to take action against all the conspirators and bring them to justice.
US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake told reporters here that Headley will not be extradited to India or anywhere in the case under trial in Chicago but did not rule out such a possibility on any “future charges”.
He said “yes” to a question whether Indian investigators would be provided access to interrogate Headley who has entered into a plea bargaining with the US government on 12 counts of indictment including the conspiracy behind the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, US Attorney General and Head of the Department of Justice Eric Holder spoke to Chidambaram late last evening and clarified to him about a number of aspects concerning Headley’s plea bargaining.
“It is my understanding that India would be able to obtain access to Headley to question him,” the Home Minister said in a statement this morning.