FBI to India: Headley not to be extradited

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has politely turned down India’s request for extradition of terror suspect David Headley to this country, on the ground that he will have to first undergo a sentence which could be imposed on him in the US for the offences committed, if convicted.

Indian officials were told there was no realistic possibility of the Pakistani-American being handed over, since the sentence could range between 200 and 300 years of imprisonment. The US stand was conveyed to the Indian investigators by FBI officials during their regular interaction to discuss the case related to Headley, whose links with the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) were being probed by the two countries, official sources said here today.

The polite turning down of the Indian request for extradition of 49-year-old Headley, arrested in Chicago on October 3, came in the wake of repeated statements, including that by Union Home Secretary G K Pillai, that India would press for the extradition of the terror suspect.

Pillai had earlier said that India would seek his extradition after completing investigation by January next year into his links with the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.