Brasilia:
India has got "very high-level" assurances from the US government that it will get access to Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, who has confessed to plotting the Mumbai attacks, and the two countries will work out procedures in this regard.
The issue figured in the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama on Sunday last in Washington.
Subsequently, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon discussed the issue further with his counterpart Gen James Jones the following day.
"We have very high-level assurances that we will get access (to Headley)," Indian government sources said.
They said that the two countries were working through the internal legal procedures in this regard.
Addressing a press conference wrapping up his US visit on Wednesday, Singh had said Obama had told him that India would get access to Headley, an LeT operative arrested by the FBI in Chicago last year.
India wants direct access to Headley to unravel the entire conspiracy surrounding the Mumbai attacks. The LeT operative, who had visited India several times, had also planned to attack key installations in the country.
India is also keen to interrogate Headley in a way that is legally acceptable in a court in the country.
Headley has confessed to playing a crucial role in the Mumbai attacks.
In his plea bargain with the US government, he has offered to be subjected to questioning by foreign investigators through deposition, video conferencing or
Letters Rogatory.
Under the plea bargain, he will escape death penalty and faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Besides access, India is determined to seek Headley's extradition. New Delhi has said that it would use every occasion to seek Headley's extradition and access to him.
Sources said the two countries will have to work through some internal legal processes and modalities before access could be granted to Headley, who has confessed to having played a key role in the 26/11 attacks. "These have to match," they said.
The Indian government is confident that there would be no legal hurdles in getting access to Headley, a Pakistani-origin American, particularly considering the fact that he has committed in his plea bargain that he will make himself available to foreign judicial processes.
The sources indicated that India would send a formal letter seeking access to Headley after the legal issues have been matched.
Headley, who was arrested by FBI in Chicago in October last year, has confessed to playing a crucial role in the Mumbai attacks. In this plea bargain with the US government, he has offered to be subjected to questioning by foreign investigators through deposition, video conferencing or Letters Rogatory.
India is keen to have Headley extradited, arguing that he should face trial in the country where the crime was committed.
However, it is ready to settle, for the time being, for access if pursuance of extradition takes long.
Though the US has shared a lot of information about Headley's activities in connection with 26/11, India wants to interrogate him directly to find out the entire conspiracy related to that carnage and further plans of Lashkar-e-Toiba.
India wants to interrogate Headley in a way that is legally acceptable in a court in the country.
"The interrogation should be legally usable and satisfy our legal processes," the sources said.
Menon and Jones also discussed the issue of relaxing export control on dual-use items. India feels that many of the items on the Entities List should be barred from exports to India and the two sides are working to relax the ban.