Saturday, December 24, 2011

26/11 attack: NIA chargesheets David Headley and 8 others

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday chargesheeted David Headley and eight others for plotting terror attacks in India.

The chargesheet came days after the government gave its go ahead to book nine people including Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and two ISI officers for plotting terror attacks in India including 26/11 Mumbai strikes.

Besides Headley and Saeed, the Home Ministry had given sanction to NIA to prosecute 26/11 attacks mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Headley's accomplice and Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana and al-Qaeda operative Illyas Kashmiri.

Sajid Malik, handler of Headley, and Abdul Rehman Hashmi have also been named in the chargesheet besides two officers Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali, believed to be working for Pakistan's snooping agency, the ISI.

The sanction of prosecution against the nine was accorded after a legal opinion of the Law Ministry was obtained.

They have been named in the chargesheet for waging war against the country under the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The NIA had registered a case against 50-year-old Headley and Rana on November 12, 2009 and later on added other names after investigation by central security agencies showed a large set of people involved in terror activities against the country.

Both Headley and Rana are at present in custody of US authorities and NIA has only got a limited access to Headley, who had entered into plea bargain with US authorities to escape harsh sentence.

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