Narayanan suggested govt not keen on Headley extradition

New Delhi: Even as India was publicly pressing for Lashkar operative David Headley's extradition from the US, then National Security Advisor M K Narayanan had suggested to the American Ambassador in December 2009 that government was actually not keen on it but wanted to be seen doing so.

According to Wikileaks, in a cable to the US State Department on December 17, 2009, then ambassador Timothy J Roemer said that Narayanan had told him on the issue of Headley's extradition that it was "difficult not to be seen making the effort," but that the government was not seeking extradition "at this time."

In the leaked cable, where Roemer was seeking New Delhi's commitment to not request Headley's extradition, Narayanan said the Indian Government would be "in the hot seat" if it were seen as pre-emptively relinquishing extradition of one of the main accused of the 26/11 attacks.

"He (Roemer) explained that the threat of extradition to India could cause Headley's cooperation to dry up, but that allowing the US judicial process to unfold or securing a plea agreement that both reflects his overall culpability and ensures his continued cooperation would maximize our ability to obtain further information from Headley," the leaked cable said.

Roemer highlighted the "unprecedented effort to share intelligence in the case of accused Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley and conveyed that we (the US) were following up on questions and requests that arose from the information we had already provided in the case," the cable said.