Cops say Headley's ' Rahul' is filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt son.

TERROR suspect David Coleman Headley's ' Bollywood connection' has been unraveled. According to sources in the Mumbai police's crime branch, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul Bhatt has admitted to meeting Headley.

Officials said Rahul was questioned by intelligence officials and he accepted that he knew Headley. But Bhatt's son said he was not aware of the US national's terror plot. He told the police that Headley introduced himself as a person looking for work. Intelligence agencies have reportedly given a clean chit to Rahul.

Several references to ' Rahul' in Headley's e- mail exchanges with his Pakistani handlers sent the security establishment in a tizzy. There were apprehensions whether the name referred to Congress heir apparent Rahul Gandhi or any of the Bollywood actors such as Rahul Khanna and Rahul Bose. There was even speculation that it could be a code name for Shah Rukh Khan, who has played characters named Rahul in several films.

The National Investigation Agency ( NIA) has filed an FIR against Headley and his associate Tahhawur Hussain Rana with an aim to get the duo extradited to India from the US. The FIR says Headley and Rana have strong links with Lashkar- e- Tayyeba and they have been booked for waging a war against the Indian state and committing a terrorist act with criminal conspiracy.

" We will press for extradition of the duo based on this FIR," a senior Union home ministry official said. If India's extradition request is accepted, the NIA would take Headley to the cities he had earlier visited to unravel the terror plot.

" A team from the NIA could be sent to the US in January to file an application in the Chicago court after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI) files its indictment in the case. An FBI team is expected to be in India soon too. If not extradition, this FIR will at least enable the Indian investigators to appeal before the Chicago court for the duo's questioning in the US," the official said.

The government believes questioning of the duo is necessary to ascertain if they had any role in the 26/ 11 attack and to learn the details of their plan to strike at several vital installations, including defence establishments and two prestigious boarding schools in Uttarakhand.

Officials said they had enough evidence that Rana and Headley had carried out recces to plan terror strikes while visiting India. Home ministry officials said the Mumbai crime branch is checking if Headley had stayed in Taj hotel during his visit in 2007. Intelligence officials suspect he could have played a part in the 26/ 11 conspiracy by doing a recce inside the hotel, which was a major 26/ 11 target.

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