A Mumbai court today pardoned Pakistani-American LeT terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case, and made him an approver.
The development may help unravel the conspiracy hatched in Pakistan.
"Accused David Headley is tendered pardon as per Section 307 of Code of Criminal Procedure....Headley would be the prosecution witnesses in the case," said Justice GA Sanap. Headley would depose as a prosecution witness through videoconference on February 8, 2016. The court added that pardon was being granted on the condition that he would reveal "every fact".
Currently serving 35-year jail term in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks case, Headley today told the sessions court through a video link from an undisclosed location that he was ready to depose if granted pardon.
After special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told the court that the prosecution was agreeable to Headley's offer, Justice GA Sanap declared Headley an approver, subject to certain conditions, and granted him pardon.
"I have received the charging document filed against me in this court. It charges me with same conduct for which I was charged in the US. I had pleaded guilty to the charges in the US and I admitted that I was participant in these charges," Headley told the court earlier this evening.
"I accepted responsibility for my role in those offences in my plea agreement (in US). I also agreed to make myself available as a witness in this court. I appear here ready to answer questions regarding these events if I receive a pardon from this court," he said. Earlier, the judge explained to Headley the charges against him.
The court said Headley should disclose the 'full and true facts' leading to 26/11 attacks, besides revealing the role he and others played in the attacks. "Headley should disclose the facts he has already admitted before the court in Illinois and reveal if any of the attackers were involved in other attacks in India," the court said.
On November 18, the court had said that Headley must be produced through video conference on December 10 as it allowed the Mumbai police's plea to make him an accused. The police had said he should be tried by the Mumbai court along with key conspirator Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal. Following this, the court took "cognisance of offences" against Headley.
The police want to question Headley regarding the involvement of Pakistan Army and its Inter-Services Intelligence. In 2010, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team was allowed to interrogate Headley extensively after which he allegedly said three senior Pakistan Army officers played a prime role in the 26/11 attacks.
The same Pakistani officers were reportedly named by Jundal, against whom charges were framed last month in Mumbai. Pakistan has repeatedly rejected the charge that its Army officers were involved in the attacks.
The police application noted that Headley entered into a plea bargain agreement with the US authorities in 2010, and thereby willingly and voluntarily agreed that he was part of the conspiracy behind the November 26, 2008, attacks in Mumbai which claimed 166 lives.
In 2013, he was sentenced to 35-year imprisonment for a dozen federal terrorism crimes related to his role in the Mumbai attacks.
Headley is charged with conducting reconnaissance of target locations. Posing as an American, he made five extended trips to Mumbai — in September 2006, February and September 2007, and April and July 2008 — each time making videotapes of various potential targets, including those attacked in November 2008. After these trips he travelled to Pakistan to meet Lashkar members and hand over his surveillance material.
