US assures access to LeT operative Headley

India has got 'very high-level' assurances from the US Government that it will get access to Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, who has confessed to plotting the Mumbai attacks, and the two countries will work out procedures in this regard.

The issue figured in the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama on Sunday last in Washington.

Subsequently, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon discussed the issue further with his counterpart Gen James Jones the following day.

"We have very high-level assurances that we will get access (to Headley)," Indian government sources said.

They said that the two countries were working through the internal legal procedures in this regard.

Addressing a press conference wrapping up his US visit on Wednesday, Singh had said Obama had told him that India would get access to Headley, an LeT operative arrested by the FBI in Chicago last year.

India wants direct access to Headley to unravel the entire conspiracy surrounding the Mumbai attacks. The LeT operative, who had visited India several times, had also planned to attack key installations in the country.

India is also keen to interrogate Headley in a way that is legally acceptable in a court in the country.

Headley has confessed to playing a crucial role in the Mumbai attacks.

In his plea bargain with the US government, he has offered to be subjected to questioning by foreign investigators through deposition, video conferencing or Letters Rogatory.

Under the plea bargain, he will escape death penalty and faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

Besides access, India is determined to seek Headley's extradition. New Delhi has said that it would use every occasion to seek Headley's extradition and access to him.