Washington: A Mumbai police team headed home with crucial evidence from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that shows the 26/11 terror carnage was planned in Pakistan even as the US clarified it will not interfere in the issue of extradition of the lone surviving attacker from India to Pakistan.
A three-member Mumbai Police team headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police Deven Bharti left for India on Wednesday with details of how the Mumbai attackers kept in touch with their Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) masters in Karachi.
The US investigating agency charged with protecting the US against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats provided India details of calls made through the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a satellite phone, as well as documents relating to the Global Positioning System used by the terrorists while sailing from Karachi.
The forensic examination of the bullets used by the terrorists in Mumbai was also a part of the evidence collected from the FBI by Mumbai police.
The Mumbai police team came here last week with Letters Rogatory or Letters of Request issued by a Mumbai court to the US Department of Justice.
The evidence from the FBI is expected to make the case against the terrorists water-tight and nail Islamabad's claims that the conspiracy behind the Nov 26 attacks was not hatched in Pakistan alone.
India had sought the US help in analysing the evidence under their Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) that came into effect in December 2005.
"The United States is working with both sides in order to help bring all of the attackers in Mumbai to justice," State Department spokesperson Gordon Duguid told reporters here Wednesday.
When asked about reports that Pakistan had sought extradition of the sole November 26 surviving attacker from India, Duguid said: "I don't have an opinion on whether he should be extradited or not. That would be between India and Pakistan."
"I think that he (the attacker) should be put through a judicial process, and that judicial process should be fair and transparent," he said.
"The Pakistanis have taken some steps to help the Indians in their investigations. But I don't have any new information on the return of any of the people captured during the attack to Pakistan," Duguid said.
Ajmal Amir Kasab Kasab, the sole surviving attacker of the Mumbai terrorist attack that killed over 170 people including 26 foreign nationals, is currently in the custody of Mumbai Police.
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