Headley’s bond hearing called off indefinitely

CHICAGO - The bond hearing for David Coleman Headley, one of the two Pakistani-born suspected terrorists arrested for allegedly plotting terror attacks against India, has been postponed indefinitely. Officials gave no specific reason for calling off the hearing that was scheduled for Friday.

The cancellation comes as Indian investigators are probing 49-year-old Headley’s suspected involvment in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai that left more than 170 people dead.

Headley’s attorneys, John Theis and Robert Seeder, have declined to comment on reports that the Indian government is investigating his possible involvement, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The newspaper said federal prosecutors gave no reason Monday in announcing that Friday’s scheduled hearing for Headley had been cancelled. There is no new date and no further information available, the US Attorney’s Office in Illinois announced.

The attorney’s office said the detention hearing for Headley’s associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana - a Canadian citizen, arrested on similar terror charges -would proceed as per schedule Dec 2.

US national Headley and Rana, according to investigators, had travelled widely in India before and after the Mumbai terror attack. The two were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation from Chicago in October.

A high-level FBI team is expected in Delhi with new information to unravel the terror plot hatched by Headley and Rana and their links to the Mumbai carnage.

The decision of the FBI to come to India followed intensive discussions between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama in Washington last week.