NEW DELHI, Dec 24 (IANS): The NIA, India's premier anti-terror probe body, Saturday filed charges against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, including Pakistani-American David Headley and two alleged ISI men for their role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
The chargesheet, which also names Lashkar founder Haafiz Sayeed and seven others, was filed in a special National Investigation Agency court here. The Patiala House court here will rule early next month whether or not to accept the charges.
Headley, who is in a US court undergoing trial, has entered into a plea bargain with the authorities there under which he cannot be extradited to any counrty, including India.
Also named in the charges are alleged Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Al Qaeda operative Illyas Kashmiri, Headley's accomplice Tahawwur Rana, Major Iqbal and Major Samir, the latter two are believed to be working for the ISI, the Pakistani spy agency.
The accused named in the chargesheet are alleged to have conspired in a "Karachi Project" to strike at select Indian targets. Indian security agencies allege the project was sponsored by ISI.
Lakhvi is in a Pakistani jail undergoing trial for the terror attack that killed 166 people, including foreigners, when 10 Pakistani terrorists sneaked into Mumbai Nov 26, 2008 and went on a killing spree.
The government Wednesday gave the go ahead to the NIA, which was formed in the aftermath of the Mumbai mayhem, to file charges against the accused.
However, sources say the case in an Indian court may not be of any significance because it won't lead to the deportation of Headley, who has confessed to having surveyed potential targets in India for the Lashkar.
The NIA has based its charges on inputs from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the CIA and the interrogation of Headley in the US earlier this year.
