Tahawwur Rana, 64, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency after landing. His flight, which took off from Los Angeles in the US yesterday, landed in Delhi’s Palam technical area. It is likely that after the preliminary formalities, he would be taken to the NIA headquarters. He will also be presented to Delhi’s Patiala House court.
But he could later be placed in Delhi’s high security Tihar jail and may be eventually moved to Mumbai to face trial, sources said.
He has been charged with criminal conspiracy, waging war against the government of India, murder and forgery and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Rana’s extradition takes place two months after US President Donald Trump, during PM Modi’s visit, announced that his administration has approved the extradition of the “very evil” Rana. “I wholeheartedly congratulate the Prime Minister of the country,” posted Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on X, formerly Twitter.
A Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin based in Chicago, Tahawwur Rana is accused of playing a key role in the 2008 attacks in the country’s financial capital that cost 166 lives. Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, prime accused in the attack, said Rana had extended logistical and financial support for the terror operation.
The chargesheet says Rana had assisted Headley in many ways, including setting up the Immigrant Law Centre in Mumbai. Headley had travelled to several Indian cities, including Delhi, Jaipur, Pushkar, Goa and Pune and Mumbai, as a representative of the firm. Rana had also visited India in November 2008.
In October 2009, the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the US arrested Rana in Chicago for providing support to an aborted plan to attack a newspaper in Danish capital Copenhagen and providing material support to Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was responsible for the Mumbai attacks. Two years later, he was convicted.
Rana had appealed to US courts challenging the extradition to India, saying he suffers from multiple ailments, including abdominal aortic aneurysm at immediate risk of rupture, Parkinson’s disease with cognitive decline, and possible bladder cancer. But the courts had turned down his petition, paving the way for his extradition.
The three-day attack that devastated India’s financial capital in 2008 had targeted hotels, a train station and a Jewish center, the Chabad House. India has said that Lashkar-e-Taiba orchestrated the attacks. Of the 10 terrorists who took part in the attack, only one, Ajmal Kasab, was caught alive and was hanged on November 21, 2012.
Pakistan has distanced itself from Rana, saying he has not renewed his Pakistani documents for over two decades and his Canadian nationality is very clear.
