TNN
 
New Delhi, Dec 8: David Coleman Headley aka Daood Gilani, has now been formally charged for conspiracy in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai last year. 

After an intensive probe, the FBI has said that Headley delivered, placed, discharged and detonated explosives and other lethal devices in, into, and against places of public use in India.

The FBI on Monday indicted Headley on six counts, unveiling new charges against him, on a day when senior FBI officials were in India to probe his contacts and movements in the run-up to the attacks last year.

While Headley, who left Mumbai just before the 26/11 carnage, was suspected of having conducted recces for the the jihadi marauders who ravaged Mumbai for 3 days, the chargesheet points out that he was among the central plotters rather than a fringe player in the conspiracy.

It also makes him the second person after Ajmal Kasab directly involved in the 26/11 plot who is in police custody outside Pakistan.

Going by reports in the US press, supposed to be based on inputs from FBI, Headley was very forthcoming with the FBI team probing him on his role in 26/11 and links with jihadi groups in Pakistan. This raises hopes for India's effort to get to the bottom of the conspiracy against Mumbai and press Pakistan to act against the masterminds -- including those who have not been detained.

Significantly, the FBI has also formally charged a retired Major of the Pakistan army, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, for the plot against a Danish newspaper that Headley wanted to attack for the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. Indian officials familiar with the investigation said the Pakistani army officer was closely linked to the ISI.

Rehman has been arrested by the Pakistan government, but if the charges are upheld during the trial, it would be the first smoking gun that the ISI is involved in exporting terror. The US is likely to ask for Rehman's extradition from Pakistan or at least the right to interrogate him, but its still unclear whether Headley can be extradited to India to face trial here. The US charges against Headley included the deaths of six Americans.

According to the FBI chargesheet, Headley conducted extensive surveillance of targets in India for more than two years before the November 2008 attack that killed 170 people, including six US citizens. He changed his name to Headley around February 16, 2006 after he was told by his Pakistan handlers in the LeT that he would be used to scope out terror targets in India.

Headley, was named in a 12-count information with six counts of conspiracy on the Mumbai attacks. According to US reports, Headley's colleague Tahawwur Rana is suspected to have paid for Headley's India trips and his stay here, but he is yet to be charged. Headley, said the FBI report, is "cooperating" with the US authorities, something he has done in the past when pulled up on a drug traficking charge in 1998.
Rehman teamed up with Ilyas Kashmiri and a leader in the Lashkar-e-Toiba to personally plan the terror attack on a Danish newspaper, Jyllands Posten, in a project codenamed the Mickey Mouse project.

Headley attended LeT training camps in Pakistan in 2002 and 2003. He was in India on five different occasions in 2006, 07 and 08. He was asked to conduct video surveillance and take photographs of all the targets including the Taj, Oberoi, Leopold Cafe, Nariman House and CST Terminus.

After every trip to India, Headley travelled to Pakistan with fresh information. In March 2008, Headley even took boat trips in and around Mumbai to discuss potential landing sites for the terrorists landing in Mumbai. He even identified other targets in India including the National Defence College in Delhi, which were not attacked in November.

According to an FBI press statement, the charges against Headley, 49, now include the six conspiracy counts, which could give him a life term several times over.

"This investigation remains active and ongoing. The team of prosecutors and agents will continue to seek charges against the other persons responsible for these attacks," US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement.