Mumbai 26/11 attacks case: Mumbai court forgives David Coleman Headley

MUMBAI: A local court forgave the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) detective named David Coleman Headley on Thursday who assisted plan the 2008 attacks in the city, and accepted him as an accusation witness, a move likely to help nail another key guilty in the case Abu Jundal. The pardon came on the condition that the 55-year-old US citizen disclose the details of the cabal, with chief prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam saying Headley could help establish direct evidence of the attack being planned from outside India. David Coleman Headley is serving a 35-year term at an undisclosed US prison for the attacks in which 166 people killed. The court’s granting of forgive to Headley comes at a time when New Delhi and Islamabad are trying to claw back to the peace table, and unless his revelations about the involvement of Pakistan’s ISI in the attacks go beyond what is already known, they are unlikely to hurt the dialogue process. As part of his plea bargain with US courts, Headley cannot be extradited to India to face trial but his proof can help accusation Jundal, a key planner of the attacks who is now in jail in Mumbai after being extradited from Saudi Arabia in 2012.