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Ex-Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tahawwur Rana's extradition: ‘It’s a good thing'
Shinde was the country's home minister in 2012, when Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the 26/11 attacks, was hanged to death
Former Union home minister and senior Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday welcomed the extradition of 2008 Mumbai terror attack case accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana.
"It's a good thing," PTI quoted Shinde as saying in Ahmedabad, where he attended the AICC session.
Shinde was the country's home minister in 2012, when Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive from the Pakistani group that carried out the terror attack, was hanged to death in Pune's Yerawada Jail.
Tahawwur Rana to arrive in Delhi today. Track live updates
Rana is being brought to India after his last-ditch attempt to evade extradition failed as the US Supreme Court justices rejected his application.
Rana is likely to be lodged in a high-security ward in Tihar jail in New Delhi when he reaches India.
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Tahawwur Rana's role in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks
Born in Chichawatni city in Sahiwal district of Pakistan's Punjab province, Tahawwur Rana worked in the Pakistan Army's medical corps.
He migrated to Canada after leaving the Pakistani Army in late 1990s and later got Canadian citizenship.
Security agency officials say David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, who was born in the US to a Pakistani father and American mother, is Rana's childhood friend.
Some time after his birth, Headley's family moved to Pakistan where he went to a school in Hasan Abdal city in Attock district. This is where Headley befriended Rana.
Investigating agency officials said Rana had assisted Headley in obtaining a visa for India and established 'Immigrant Law Centre' in Mumbai, which acted as a front.
It is alleged that Rana was aware of Headley's terror links and even helped in reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and planning the attacks on the National Defence College in New Delhi and Chabad House in Mumbai.
Rana also visited Hapur (Uttar Pradesh), Delhi, Agra, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai in the country with his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar between November 13 and November 21, 2008. His initial planning includes the attack on Chabad Houses located in different cities.
(With PTI inputs)
