FBI files Criminal Information Report against Headley and not an indictment

New Delhi, Dec.9 (ANI): While reports about David Coleman Headley, a US national of Pakistani origin who was arrested in Chicago in October on terror charges, being indicted by a Federal court in Chicago are being splashed all over the media, former Additional Secretary B. Raman, in a report, has cited at least eleven instances that suggest that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Criminal Information Report against Headley is not an indictment.

Headley, 49, has been charged in a 12-count criminal information with six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim persons in India and Denmark, to provide material support to foreign terrorist plots, and to provide material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India.

Raman's report highlights that the FBI has actually filed a Criminal Information Report and not yet an indictment because the charges relating to India are largely based on voluntary admissions made by Headley during his interrogation after his arrest on October 3,2009.

The FBI had originally filed a criminal affidavit giving details of evidence collected on the basis of technical intelligence, which justified Headley's arrest and interrogation. Subsequently, they submitted to the court a sealed cover information obtained during his initial interrogation to justify his continued custody.

Moreover, the FBI has described the investigation against Headley as still active. A formal indictment would follow after the investigations into his disclosures in India and Pakistan.

The FBI has also filed a separate Criminal Information Report on two counts in the same court on December 7,2009, against a retired Pakistan Army official Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed.

In the affidavit filed earlier by the FBI against Headley, there were references to two handlers of Headley in Pakistan, a person referred to as Individual 'A' and a Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) office-bearer.

The FBI's Criminal Information Report does not refer to any Indian visit by Headley in November, 2008. There is also no reference to any role of his in connection with the July 2006 explosions in Mumbai's local trains.

Raman, who is currently Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, in his report also says the FBI has not filed any Criminal Information Report against Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin living in Chicago, who was running an immigration consultancy service, in connection with November 2008 attacks.

Rana was also arrested along with Headley by the FBI in October. (ANI)