NEW DELHI, March 19 (Xinhua) — After U.S. terror suspect David Coleman Headley pleaded guilty to all the 12 terror-related charges against him before the U.S. District Court in Chicago Thursday, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Friday that India will continue to seek his extradition.
\”India needs more access to Headley for interrogation and to record his testimony in the Mumbai terror attack case,\” Chidambaram said addressing a press conference in New Delhi.
\”I have seen a copy of the plea agreement. In return, the prosecutors have agreed that they will not seek the death penalty and he will not be extradited to India or Denmark or Pakistan,\” said Chidambaram.
He pointed out that Headley has been charged with crimes that spanned across different countries.
\”If Headley had committed the crime only in India, extradition was easy. He has committed the crime in both the countries. We must remember there were six Americans who died in Mumbai attacks. The American authorities have the jurisdiction to prosecute him. Since he was apprehended in the U.S., I always knew there would be a problem in our extradition. We will continue to maintain our plea for the extradition,\” he said.
\”The U.S. sentence is on certain guidelines. It appears to me that the prosecutor will seek for life imprisonment. The life imprisonment means the natural life of the accused. The court is not bound by the plea agreement but by and large they are bound by plea agreement. We should wait and watch,\” he said.
He also said that India had already got enough information from the U.S. regarding Headley\’s involvement in terror related activities.
\”Access is one thing, information is another. We have been given a significant amount of information about their investigation. We want access to get more information. In any judicial proceedings in the U.S. the Indian authorities have the right to question either through a video conferencing or through the letters,\” the Minister said.
\”A significant amount of information has already been shared with India. Many of the questions that the Indian authorities wanted have been answered. I will continue to press for access to India,\” he stated.
The home minister ruled out any disruption in the Mumbai terror attack case involving Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab following Headley\’ s guilty plea.
\”The Nov. 11 case regarding Kasab is in its stage of final argument. There will be a judgement. Nothing that has happened in the U.S. will affect the Nov. 11 trial in Mumbai. We shouldn\’t mix Kasab with Headley,\” he said.
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