FBI chief meets Indian officials, discusses Pune and Headley
By IANSTuesday, February 23, 2010
NEW DELHI - The visiting director of the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Robert Mueller Tuesday met with Indian government officials and discussed issues related to Pune blast investigation and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) suspect David Coleman Headley.
According to Home Ministry officials, National Investigation Agency (NIA) director general S.C. Sinha, Intelligence Bureau director Rajiv Mathur and Home Secretary G.K. Pillai took part in the meeting with the senior US official.
They discussed a whole range of issues related to the Pune blast investigation, as well as Headley, who is currently in US custody, and is accused of being involved in the Mumbai terror attacks. India has been trying to get access to Headley.
There was also talks about increasing cooperation in the coming weeks, said a home ministry official.
In a statement, US Ambassador Timothy Roemer said that the meetings were further evidence of the robust and active counter-terror cooperation between the US and India.
The US envoy pointed out that there had been an exchange of best practices, from the visit of US rail authorities to observe security on India’s railway network to Indian law enforcement officials travelling to New York and Washington.
These exchanges demonstrated our shared commitment to learning from each other to ensure the safety of our citizens, he said.
Pointing out that terrorism respects no boundaries, as starkly demonstrated by the Pune blast, Roemer said: We must cooperate globally to protect our citizens locally in their cities, villages and homes.
