Government on Thursday said documents related to Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley's visa were yet to be traced while those of his associate Tahawwur Rana had been found, contradicting claims by Indian Consulate in Chicago that no papers had gone missing.
"Rana's visa papers have been found. We are tracing those of Headley," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor told reporters here when asked to comment on reports about disappearance of documents related to the visas issued by the Indian Consulate in Chicago.
His remarks are in contradiction to the claim by Chicago Consulate that no documents had gone missing and the Government of India was aware of it.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao refused to comment, merely saying that she had sought a report and the matter was being probed.
"I have asked for factual report. The matter is under investigation," Rao told reporters here.
"There is a procedure. I will not answer any questions in this regard," she added.
The Indian Consulate in Chicago on Thursday said the papers related to issuance of visas to terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana had not gone missing and the "relevant information" in this regard is available with the Indian government.
"We have not reported loss of any papers regarding issuance of visa to David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana. Relevant information concerning the issuance of visa to these persons is available with the Government of India," a senior consulate official told PTI in Chicago.
The official's remarks comes in the wake of reports surfaced in the media that papers on the basis of which Headley and Rana were issued visas by the Consulate may have gone mysteriously missing.
Headley and Rana, both arrested by the FBI in October for plotting terror attacks in India and Denmark, travelled to this country on multi-entry visas issued by the Indian mission.
The visas to the duo were issued at the discretion of the Consul General in Chicago. While Headley was issued a five-year multi-entry business visa in July 2007, Rana was given a one-year business visa, valid up to March 2011, and both were also exempted from police reporting if their stay was less than 180 days at a single stretch.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has cancelled visas of Pakistani-origin terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana, according to sources.
Authoritative sources told PTI that the Indian visa of Rana and Headley along with two others were cancelled a day after the FBI filed the case against them in a Chicago Court.
Besides Headley and Rana, Indian visas have also been cancelled of those of Rana's wife Samraz Rana Akhthar and his business partner Raymond sanders.
A circular in this regard has been issued to all the overseas Indian missions and point of entry in India. The United States too has been informed about it so does the individuals whose visas have been cancelled.
While Headley was issued a five-year multi-entry business visa in July 2007, Rana was given a one-year business visa, valid up to March 2011, and both were also exempted from police reporting if their stay was less than 180 days at a single stretch.
Confusion over visa papers of the two persisted on Thursday with Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor indicating that David Headley's papers were untraced but his own ministry maintaining that such a conclusion would be inaccurate.
Reports that the papers relating to issuance of visas to Headley, an American-Pakistani, and Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian-Pakistani issued by the Indian Consulate in Chicago, have led to a major controversy prompting External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to state that government has asked for a "preliminary report" from Consul General Ashok Atri on the issue.
"After I get the report, we will see how we can proceed with it. I do not pre-judge anything that has appeared in the media but certainly Government is aware of its responsibilities and we will discharge that", Krishna said.
However, giving another dimension, Tharoor said "Rana's visa papers have been found. We are tracing those of Headley's."
He was asked to comment on reports about disappearance of documents related to the visas issued by the Indian Consulate in Chicago.
The MEA sought to downplay the whole issue saying it would not be correct to conclude that the visa applications were missing. PTI
