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Meet the legal teams fighting for and against Rana
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and advocate Narender Mann will represent NIA, while Rana will be represented by advocates Piyush Sachdev and Lakshya Dheer.
New Delhi Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan will spearhead the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) prosecution team in the trial of terrorist Tahawwur Rana, and he will be assisted by advocate Narender Mann, who was appointed by the Union home ministry as special public prosecutor (SPP) for three years in a notification issued just a day before Rana’s arrival in India.
In a late-night notification issued on Wednesday, the home ministry said Mann, 58, will conduct the trial and other legal proceedings in the NIA case before special courts in Delhi and before appellate courts. The notification invokes powers under the relevant provisions in the NIA Act and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
Rana, 64, was extradited from the US after the US Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. He is accused of aiding co-conspirator David Coleman Headley in scouting targets and providing logistical support to Lashkar-e-Taiba for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people.
Krishnan, 57, a designated senior advocate and a graduate of NLSIU Bangalore’s first batch in 1993, represented the Indian government pro bono throughout Rana’s extradition process since 2010. Known for his expertise in extradition and money laundering laws, Krishnan was also part of a four-member NIA team that travelled to Chicago to interrogate Headley and previously served as a special public prosecutor in the Headley case. Krishnan confirmed to HT that he will be heading the NIA team in the case.
Over his three-decade-long legal career, Krishnan has represented the Centre, NIA, CBI and Delhi Police in several landmark and high-profile matters including the 2001 Parliament attack case, December 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case, the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case, the 2010 Commonwealth Games corruption scandal, and the 2005 Navy war room leak case. Recently, he also represented the Sanjay Singh-led Wrestling Federation of India before the Delhi high court in a case of sexual harassment and abuse filed by four wrestlers.
Mann is a criminal law specialist with over 30 years of legal experience. An alumnus of Delhi’s Kirori Mal College and Campus Law Centre, Delhi University, Mann began his practice focusing on cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act and special statutes such as the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.
Mann previously served as a special public prosecutor for CBI between January 2011 and April 2019, representing the agency in several high-stakes matters before the Delhi high court. He was associated with cases such as the Jain hawala case, the Bofors scandal, and the attempted assassination of then CJI AN Ray in 1975 by two Ananda Margis—whose conviction he successfully defended in 2014. Their final appeal is now pending before the Supreme Court.
Also on the NIA’s prosecution team are advocates Sanjeevi Sheshadri and Sridhar Kale. Sheshadri , an alumnus of NLU Delhi and has worked with Krishnan for nearly eight years.
Rana will be represented by advocates Piyush Sachdev and Lakshya Dheer. The two lawyers were appointed by the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA).
Sachdev, 37, obtained his law degree from ILS Law College Pune, in 2011 and master’s degree in international business and Commercial Laws from King’s College, London. His legal journey spans over a decade starting from 2012. Sachdev, a partner in his firm CGC Partners, has been empanelled with the DLSA since 2021.
Dheer obtained his law degree from Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow in 2018. He began practising law in 2018, with a special focus white collar crime, commercial disputes, cyber-crimes, fraud/risk mitigation. He was recently empanelled with the DLSA to represent in criminal cases before Sessions Court, Patiala House Court.
