Security agencies have pressed for questioning the estranged wife of U.S. terror accused David Headley, as certain e-mails downloaded from his account showed her alleged complicity in the Mumbai terror attack.
The e-mails of Headley available with the central security agencies and forming a part of the probe of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been shared with American sleuths, official sources said on Sunday. Headley has pleaded guilty to his involvement in 26/11.
They showed the woman allegedly having an extremist bent of mind and to be in the know of the 49-year-old Headley’s activities in India and Pakistan, the sources said.
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The sources said the mails downloaded from Headley’s e-mail account gave a broader picture about his role in India and Pakistan and his links with noted socialites in this megapolis.
The Indian security establishment was also awaiting a response from the U.S.’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to the queries sent in connection with Headley’s wife, whose antecedents also have Pakistan links but is a U.S. national.
The access to the personal life of Headley was provided by his estranged Moroccan wife Faiza Outalha, who, the security agencies suspect had carried out reconnaissance of certain installations that were targeted by the Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
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Faiza was married to Headley but had a divorce within a year.
According to sources, the woman flew to Mumbai from Karachi in 2007 and again crossed over to the country through Wagah border a year later.
On her first trip, she stayed with the terror suspect in Taj Mahal Hotel and later in Oberoi-Trident. Both the hotels were targeted by terrorists during the 26/11 attacks.
After her divorce, she again came to India in May 2008 via Wagah and went straight to Manali where she had spent her holidays near a Jewish house besides touring other parts of Shimla including Kufri, a well-known tourist destination.
Outalha had claimed that she divorced Headley as he was having relations with several women which included prominent party-hoppers of Mumbai and socialites.
On the basis of her statement, the security officials team quizzed an American national in Goa who knew Headley. The U.S. national, who is not a suspect in the case, has been hopping in and out of India and had stayed in Manali and Goa with his Russian girlfriend.
The American, who works as a masseur, has not violated any of the visa rules of the country and he had informed the investigators about Headley’s activities in Goa.