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India step closer to extraditing Tahawwur Rana as US court rejects his plea
A court in California has rejected a plea of Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman-doctor Tahawwur Rana, who has been named as a conspirator in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, against his extradition
India is a step closer to extraditing Tahawwur Rana, who has been named as a conspirator in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, from the US with a court in California rejecting the Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman-doctor’s plea against his extradition even as Pakistan is learnt to have asked its consulate in Los Angeles to monitor the case.
Rana, 57, challenged in June the order issued for his extradition in May. Judge Dale S Fisher of the Central California District on August 10 rejected the challenge. Officials in New Delhi called the order a positive development. “The US government has backed Rana’s extradition to India. He is trying to delay the process, but we believe he will be sent to India soon,” said an official familiar with the matter.
Indian agencies have come across a letter the Pakistan embassy in Washington has purportedly written to the consulate in Los Angeles asking officials there to “closely monitor the case and update the mission on any changes, including appeal’s current standing and next actions.”
Fischer rejected Rana’s arguments that he cannot be extradited because India plans to prosecute him for the same acts for which he was acquitted in the US and that the government has not established that there is probable cause to believe that he committed the offences for which he is expected to stand trial.
Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian of the Central California District in May ruled that Rana can be extradited to India, citing sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that he committed the offences for which the extradition has been sought.
Rana is accused of helping co-conspirator David Coleman Headley in reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and allegedly planning the Pakistan-backed terrorist attack on Mumbai, which left 166 people dead.
American Federal Bureau of Investigation 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 beheading employees of the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten.
In June 2020, India sought Rana’s provisional arrest for his extradition. The Biden administration supported it.
American prosecutors argued Rana was aware of his childhood friend Headley’s involvement with Lashkar-e-Taiba. They added he was supporting the terrorist organisation and its associates by providing Headley cover. The prosecutors argued Rana knew of Headley’s meetings, what was discussed, and the planning of the attacks.
The US government said Rana was part of the conspiracy and there is probable cause that he committed the substantive crime of commissioning a terrorist act
Former National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief Y C Modi said Pakistan has no locus standi in the matter. “But we all know why they want to monitor the developments in this case. Rana’s extradition to India will be a big catch for India.” NIA teams have visited the US twice since 2018 for formalities for Rana’s extradition.
