Discussions around giving India access to Headley “still on track”

“Discussions to provide Indian authorities with access to Mr. Headley are still on track,” according to John Theis, lawyer of David Coleman Headley, accused in the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008.

Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Theis said it may however be two more weeks before any more substantive details become available.

Mr. Theis has earlier said to

The Hindu that the plea agreement that Mr. Headley had struck with the DoJ “does anticipate Mr. Headley’s cooperation with U.S. and Indian authorities.”

With pressure mounting upon the United States to provide Indian authorities with access to Mr. Headley, Mr. Theis had said “specific details of the Indian authorities’ meetings with or interrogation of Mr. Headley have not yet been worked out.”

Mr. Theis had then referred to the text of the plea agreement according to which “if [Mr. Headley] should breach this cooperation agreement and if the government, at its sole discretion, voids such agreement, the government will no longer be bound by its decision not to seek the death penalty.”

The U.S. Department of Justice had waived the death penalty for Mr. Headley on the condition that he continued to cooperate.

Weeks before, Ross Rice, a spokesman at the Chicago division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had said to The Hindu that the matter of bringing Mr. Headley before Indian authorities was “down to logistics,” adding that that if Mr. Headley did not cooperate, it will be a violation of his plea agreement and his case would then go back to the courts for further review.

Mr. Theis and the DoJ refused to provide any further comments on the current progress with providing India with access to Mr. Headley.