Probe into Headley, Rana trail to take 4-6 weeks: Pillai

It will take the Indian government at least another four to six weeks to find out exactly what David Headley and Tahawwur Rana did when they were in India, Home Secretary Gopal Pillai said.

Talking to journalists on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said, "Investigations are on, it will take us at least, I will put it as something between four to six weeks, to complete the probe. Once that investigation is completed, we will know the links."

He was replying to a question whether Canadian of Pakistani-origin Tahawwur Hassan Rana and US citizen David Coleman Headley, arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last month for allegedly plotting terror strikes in India and the US, had made any trips to militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir and if there were any fresh inputs to suggest their role in the 26/11 attacks.

In reply to a specific question on Rana's movements, Pillai said he had visited Kochi in Kerala and the probe to find out what he did while in the city was on.

Kerala Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose had said, "A man named Tahawwur Hussain Rana had stayed in a hotel in Kochi on November 16."

He also stated that the state police had not received any official communication on the matter from the central security agencies.

Pillai said a team of National Investigating Agency (NIA), which is probing the trails of Headley and Rana in the country and also if they had played any role in the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 or the serial blasts between 2006 and 2008, would soon be visiting Kerala.

He said security agencies probing the Headley terror case had not given a clean chit to anyone, including filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul, who had an acquaintance with the US national, arrested for plotting attacks in India at Pakistan-based terror group Lashker-e-Tayiba's behest.

"We have not given clean chit to anyone. Investigation is still on," he said.

Asked about police failure to get an inkling about the plot while the two were in Mumbai to do a recce ahead of the Mumbai strikes, Pillai said, "Primarily, they had come before November 26, 2008, that is why."

Meanwhile, a team of NIA reached Mumbai on Saturday to probe the activities of Headley and Rana, who have been charged also for having links with LeT, which had carried out the Mumbai carnage last year that left 183 people dead.

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