NEW DELHI: India is investigating reports that the visa application of a Chicago man accused of conducting advance surveillance on sites targeted in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack is missing, the foreign secretary said Wednesday.

David Coleman Headley is accused of passing the information to members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group in Pakistan that allegedly planned the attack, which killed 166 people. Last week in Chicago, Headley pleaded not guilty to charges that he was involved in the attack.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said she has ordered an investigation into Indian media reports that Headley’s visa application was missing from the Indian consulate in Chicago.

“I have sought a factual report from our counsel general in Chicago in this regard,” Rao said in New Delhi.

The reports on several Indian news channels did not indicate why the visa application might be missing or what significance that might have.

Rao would not comment on other Indian news reports that Headley might have been a rogue agent of the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

She said it would be inappropriate for her to comment on an ongoing investigation, but added that India was “happy” with the cooperation it has received from the US in sharing information from the investigation of Headley and his associate, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian national.

Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said last week that the government would eventually seek Headley’s extradition to aid its investigations into the Mumbai attack. The US and India have an extradition treaty signed in 1997.

Indian officials say last year’s attack on India’s financial hub was plotted by Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan.

The only surviving alleged gunman, a Pakistani, is currently on trial in India. Seven others have been indicted in Pakistan on charges of planning and helping to execute the attack.

The prosecution on Wednesday completed its arguments in the trial, which began in April. It is due to make a statement on the penalties it is seeking for the defendants before the defense opens its arguments.