Chicago/New Delhi, Dec 19 (Inditop.com) The government Saturday said the Indian consulate general in Chicago had located the original visa application form of David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani-origin terror suspect in US custody, and that his activities in India were being investigated.
“Yes, they have been found. It’s being looked at. The papers were in the archives,” Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor told reporters here on the sidelines of a conclave.
“We need to know what he did in India and its consequences for the well-being of India,” Tharoor said.
“The media has been obsessed about the missing papers. They have been found. Far more important is what he (Headley) did in India,” Tharoor added.
“We get thousands of visa applications every day,” Tharoor pointed out.
Headley’s original visa application form, along with all the attached documents, were retrieved from the record room of the Indian consulate general in Chicago Friday.
On Thursday, Tharoor had said that while the Indian consulate in Chicago had found the visa application, the papers of the other suspected conspirator, Pakistan-born Canadian Tahawwur Rana were still being traced.
The external affairs ministry has said the visas were issued to the two men July 18, 2007 and March 3, 2006 respectively. A one-year business visa was also issued to Rana Oct 31, 2008.
Both made several trips between 2006 to 2008 to various cities in India and allegedly helped Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives in Pakistan in planning the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
The Headley-Rana issue surfaced in parliament Thursday, with the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) making common cause and asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to clarify matters over the US’ role in unravelling the alleged involvement of the duo in the Mumbai terror carnage.
