By IANS,
New Delhi: The government Tuesday said it will examine if there was a security lapse in granting Pakistan-born Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana multiple entry visas by the Indian consulate in Chicago without clearance from the home ministry.
“All these issues are going to be looked into very carefully from the point of view of security angle and perhaps in the days to come, you might see more on this,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of an event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
Copies of the visas issued to Rana and a woman called Samraz Rana, whom he claimed to be his wife, show that both of them were issued multiple entry visas by the consul general.
According to home ministry sources, Rana was given a year-long business visa and Samraz was in India on a tourist visa valid for five years.
This is a clear violation of the rule which requires clearance by the home ministry in case of persons born in Pakistan.
Rana, a Canadian national, and his childhood friend David Coleman Headley were arrested by the FBI last month in Chicago on charges of hatching a plot to launch fresh attacks in India.
According to Indian investigators, both travelled to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Agra, Kochi, Surat and Ahmedabad, posing as immigration agents. Headley also visited the Osho Ashram in Pune twice, once last year and then in March this year.
Rana had left Mumbai just five days before 26/11, the day 10 Pakistani terrorists arrived in the city and laid siege to it for over three days, killing at least 166 people in India’s worst terror attack.