Journalism of Courage
While investigators probe the network of US terror suspect David Coleman Headley and his Canadian accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana,there are leads suggesting that both were in Pakistan when Mumbai was attacked by Lashkar-Toiba (LeT) terrorists on November 26,2008,officials in the Home Ministry said here today.
Rana,according to immigration records,left Mumbai days before the attacks after a three-week stay in India during which he visited Mumbai,Delhi,Pune,Ahmedabad and Kochi cities that Headley also visited.
MHA officials said the government has approached the Canadian government seeking more information on Rana,a Pakistan-born Canadian citizen who was arrested in Chicago by the FBI last month.
According to the FBI,Rana allegedly helped arrange Headleys overseas travels and concealed their true nature and purpose to monitor potential terror targets. If convicted,he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism.
Officials also said that as a precautionary measure, nuclear installations in some states,including the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre,were put on high alert.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is learnt to have asked filmmaker Mahesh Bhatts son Rahul Bhatt not to leave for the time required to help during investigation. Rahul had recently approached the police saying he had met Headley during the latters stay in Mumbai.
Mumbai Police today recorded the statement of the head of the city-based advertising agency that helped publish ads for Headleys visa facilitating centre in newspapers,PTI reported.
Narendra Shah (65),head of Prachar,which has its office in Matunga in central Mumbai,said he went to Headleys office six times in 2007 and 2008,and provided our service in getting his ads placed in newspapers in Mumbai and Kochi.
