New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday contradicted Home Secretary GK Pillai's claim that the United States of America did not share much information about Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Coleman Headley with India saying that Washington did share Headley information with New Delhi before 26/11, but not his name.
But ahead of US President Barack Obama visit, the Home Minister also sought to play down the issue, saying it had been blown out of proportion.
"The US did share the information with us. Even after 26/11 they did share information with us. Intelligence was shared before and after 26/11. The matter is under review. When review will be over they will share with us. I think Headley issue is being blown out of proportion. US did share intelligence with us in months leading upto 26/11 though Headley's name wasn't mentioned. The name was shared only in October 2009," said Chidambaram while addressing a press conference in New Delhi.
"Extradition of Headley is still an option. Chargesheeting Headley is for NIA (National Investigation Agency) and prosecuting agencies to decide," he said.
Chidambaram's statement on US sharing information about Headley comes just a few days after Pillai told CNN-IBN that India was disappointed with the US on the issue.
"Yes! We could say that we were disappointed that the name of David Headley was not provided, if not pre-26/11 at least post 26/11. So that when he came subsequently in March 2009 to India at least at that time we could have nabbed him here," Pillai had told CNN-IBN on October 27.
Meanwhile, Indian investigators are likely to approach for questioning the wives of Headley as they feel that he had stonewalled information about his family, who had knowledge about his activities in India and his links with Lashkar.
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