NEW DELHI — India is demanding unfettered access to David Coleman Headley, an American citizen who pleaded guilty in a U.S. court last week to scouting targets for the 2008 terrorism attack in Mumbai.
New Delhi’s interest in interrogating Headley is causing a diplomatic rift between the United States and India. American diplomats have offered conflicting signals on whether Indian investigators will be able to question Headley, 49, a Pakistani American.
Authorities have described Headley as one of the most dangerous and informed terrorist operatives apprehended on American soil. He pleaded guilty to a dozen criminal charges related to the Mumbai attacks and acknowledged taking five trips to the city to videotape the attackers’ targets. The attacks killed 166 people, including six Americans.
