Shinde refuses to say what Headley disclosed on Ishrat

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Tuesday refused to disclose any details of Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley's disclosure about Ishrat Jahan, saying that the NIA has not given any report to his ministry.

"The NIA has not given us any report..." Shinde said in response to a question on Ishrat Jahan, a Mumbai college student killed in an alleged shootout by Gujarat Police in Ahmedabad nine years ago.

He also said even if there were any details, these could not be revealed.

"Anything that Headley has said is between the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the NIA (National Investigation Agency). There is an MoU between the NIA and the FBI, we cannot disclose any information they give us," he said.

Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh last week urged the home ministry to clarify on Headley's disclosure regarding Ishrat Jahan.

Digvijaya Singh wanted the ministry to tell whether Headley had told the NIA during his interrogation in the US that a terrorist plan, plotted by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had failed after the death of Ishrat Jahan and the three men who accompanied her.

Ishrat Jahan and her three associates were killed in an alleged staged shootout by Gujarat Police June 15, 2004, after an input by the Intelligence Bureau that the operatives of LeT were heading towards Gujarat to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The Central Bureau of Investigation in its charge sheet in the case said Ishrat Jahan was not a terrorist.