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Aircraft carrying 26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana lands in Delhi, NIA secures extradition
US SC in January this year denied a writ from Pakistani-Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, challenging his conviction in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case.
An aircraft carrying 26/11 Mumbai attacks accused Tahawwur Rana landed in Delhi on Thursday evening, days after he ran out of all options to get his extradition from the United States halted.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday said it successfully secured the extradition of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the “mastermind of the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, after years of sustained and concerted efforts to bring the key conspirator behind the 2008 mayhem to justice”. Track Tahawwur Rana extradition updates
United States Supreme Court in January this year denied a writ from Pakistani-Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, challenging his conviction in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case, thereby clearing the way for his extradition to India, according to people familiar with the development.
Who is Tahawwur Rana?
Tahawwur Rana, 64, is wanted in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and his extradition to India was first ordered by a US district court in May 2023. After losing his legal battle in lower courts and several federal courts, including the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, Rana filed a petition for a writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court on November 13 last year.
Tahawwur Rana is considered to be a close associate of one of the main conspirators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen.
On January 21, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the President of the United States, the Supreme Court denied his certiorari petition.
Officials in India said the US Supreme Court’s decision could allow Rana to face the Indian criminal justice system soon. “It’s a huge victory (for Indian agencies). Bringing Rana to India would mean a key co-conspirator could soon face the Indian criminal justice system. He went to multiple courts in the US to avoid his extradition, but the evidence submitted regarding his involvement was irrefutable, and ultimately, he is one step closer to being sent to India,” said a senior MHA official, who requested anonymity.
The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out the massive terrorist attack in Mumbai, including at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, between November 23 and 29, 2008, resulting in the deaths of 166 people and injuring 239. According to prosecutors, Rana praised the terrorists who carried out the attacks, stating that the people of India “deserved it.”
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Rana in Chicago in October 2009 for providing material support to conspiracies to commit terrorist acts outside the US, including in Mumbai and Copenhagen. He was convicted in 2013 of conspiracy to provide support to a plot to commit murder in Denmark, including the beheading of employees of the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten.
In June 2020, India requested Rana’s provisional arrest for his extradition, and the Joe Biden administration supported it.
Tahawwur Rana likely to be kept in Tihar
Mumbai terror attack case accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana is likely to be lodged in a high-security ward in Delhi's Tihar jail when he reaches India, prison sources cited in a news agency PTI report said.
All necessary preparations have been made in the jail, the above-mentioned sources said.
According to officials, a multi-agency team had gone to the US to bring Tahawwur Rana to India.
In November 2012, Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman among the Pakistani group that was behind the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks, was hanged to death in Yerawada Jail in Pune.
