CIA director in India, to meet NSA

New Delhi, Nov 21 : CIA director Leon E. Panetta arrived in the Indian capital to hold discussions with security experts including National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan on issues like cooperation on fighting terror and sharing of intelligence.

Panetta, who flew in from Pakistan, is also likely to discuss the probe carried out by the US and Indian investigators on David Coleman Headley and his Canadian associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana, arrested by FBI for suspected links with the Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) and plotting terror attacks in India.

Officials in the home ministry said Panetta will also be meeting Home Minister P. Chidambaram and other intelligence officials.

Under the new framework of the India-US relationship, spelt out by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to India early this year, cooperation in combating terrorism is one of the key pillars of the link between the two countries.