India wanted to extradite Headley only to appease public

New Delhi, Sep 4: India was not serious about extraditing David Coleman Headley, main accused in the Mumbai terror attacks, stated the WikiLeaks website.

According to the new set of US cables that was released in Dec 2009, MK Narayanan, the then National Security Advisor told Timothy Roemer, Former US ambassador to India that the Indian government was not keen on David Headley's extradition and it was only to appease the public.

The telephonic conversation between Roemer and Narayanan in Dec 16, 2009 revealed that the Indian government would be "in the hot seat if it were seen as relinquishing extradition" of David Headley.

Narayanan also said that it was "difficult not to be seen making the effort" responding to a demand made by Roemer that India should abstain calling for Headley's extradition.

"He (Roemer) explained that the threat of extradition to India could cause Headley's cooperation to dry up, but that allowing the US judicial process to unfold or securing a plea agreement that both reflects his overall culpability and ensures his continued cooperation would maximize our ability to obtain further information from Headley," said the cable.

The envoy also had Narayanan that because of stringent US laws it would take decades to extradite Headley to India.

OneIndia News