Will continue plea for Headley extradition: PC

New Delhi, Mar 19 : Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said India will continue its plea to extradite David Coleman Headley, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative behind the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

Headley pleaded guilty in a Chicago court on Thursday (US time) admitting he scouted targets ahead of the brazen terrorist attack in India's financial capital in Nov 2008. As a result, as per law, Headley will not face any trial or won't be given death penalty.

"I have seen a copy of the plea agreement. In return the prosecutors have agreed that they will not seek the death penalty and he (Headley) will not be extradited to India or Denmark or Pakistan. Still, we will continue to maintain our plea for the extradition," Chidambaram told at a press conference here on Friday.

However, he said India will face problems with Headley's extradition.

"If Headley had committed the crime only in India, extradition was easy. He has committed the crime in both the countries. We must remember there were six Americans who died in Mumbai attacks. The American authorities have the jurisdiction to prosecute him. Since he was apprehended in the US, I always knew there would be a problem in our extradition," he said.

Asked if he is satisfied with Headley's lifer, the Home Minister said: "US sentence is on certain guidelines. It appears to me that the prosecutor will seek for life imprisonment. The life imprisonment means the natural life of the accused. The court is not bound by the plea agreement but by and large they are bound by plea agreement. We should wait and watch."

Headley, 49, a US businessman of Pakistan descent, also admitted that he scouted targets for an attack that never took place of a Copenhagen newspaper that angered sections of Muslims for a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad, reports Chicago Tribune.

According to the Chicago Tribune report, Headley pleaded guilty to 12 counts -- conspiring to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim people in India and Denmark, to provide material support to foreign terrorist plots, to provide material support to LeT as well as aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India.

Headley also admitted meeting Ilyas Kashmiri, a Lashkar leader who was also indicted but remains at large. Kashmiri owned responsibility for the Pune bakery blast this year.

The case is being prosecuted in a US district court by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who said in court Attorney General Eric Holder had personally approved the plea deal for Headley.

In a statement, Holder called the guilty plea an important step toward justice for the victims of the Mumbai attacks.

"Not only has the criminal justice system achieved a guilty plea in this case, but David Headley is now providing us valuable intelligence about terrorist activities," Holder said, reports Chicago Tribune.

Earlier, India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Thursday said India is 'closely watching' how US handles the case of David Coleman Headley.

"Our stand remains the same-we are watching today's proceedings very closely," Krishna told reporters in New Delhi.

Headley, who pleaded not guilty when charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) first, started cooperating later with officials.

David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, were accused of plotting against the employees of the newspaper in Copenhagen.

Headley is accused of traveling to Denmark to scout the building of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, and a nearby Synagogue, for an attack by terrorists.

In December, the FBI accused Headley of conspiring to bomb targets in Mumbai and providing material support to Lashkar-i-Taiba.

Headley reportedly had also surveyed the spot where a blast took place in a bakery in Pune this year killing several people.

David Coleman Headley was formerly known as Daood Sayed Gilani. He was a Pakistani-American businessman based in Chicago.