Mystery witness lined up to nail Tahawwur Rana in 26/11 attacks case

NIA interrogates terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana, focusing on co-conspirators and logistics linked to Headley, as part of ongoing investigation.

Investigators on Friday began grilling 2008 terror attack key accused Tahawwur Rana about his co-conspirators in Pakistan and were set to confront him with a “protected witness” who allegedly received David Coleman Headley in Mumbai in 2006 as well as arranged logistics and accommodation for him, according to senior officials and investigation details seen by HT .

NIA successfully completed the extradition of Tahawwur Rana in Delhi on April 10, Thursday. (AFP)

The interrogation by officers from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other intelligence agencies began hours after a special court in Delhi sent Rana to 18 days in NIA custody in the early hours of Friday. After the court order around 2am, Rana was brought to the NIA headquarters on Lodhi Road and allowed to rest till the morning.

This is the first time Rana is being questioned by Indian investigators. In June 2010, a NIA team questioned Headley in the US. At the heart of the interrogation is the “protected witness” who is linked to Rana’s childhood friend and key conspirator Headley, and is key to nailing Rana’s role, said the officials quoted above.

“This protected witness was very close to Rana and could be confronted with him soon,” said officials, requesting anonymity.

The identity of this individual was kept confidential even in the court documents, to protect him from harm from Pakistan’s state actors and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which were involved in the 26/11 attacks.

According to the NIA probe details accessed by HT, when the planning for the attacks was going on around 2006, Headley first went to Pakistan to meet with LeT leaders and other co-conspirators – and “received instructions to take general videos of Mumbai, including of the Taj Mahal hotel”.

He visited India in September 2006 and took videos as asked by Pakistan based handlers.

“During this visit, Headley was received by an individual close to Rana, who is a protected witness now. This person received a call from Rana after which this person arranged accommodations and other logistics for Headley,” said an officer, requesting anonymity.

NIA officials didn’t disclose how this “protected witness” knew Rana well enough to arrange accommodation and logistics for Headley on his request.

“Rana might soon be confronted with the witness about his connections in India and places Headley visited and people he met during his multiple trips to India between 2006 and 2009, as well as about any other suspects who may have traveled to India during that time,” said a second officer, requesting anonymity.

Besides the protected witness, NIA is also relying on crucial calls of Rana and Healey, recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2009, as evidence in the case.

The agency will also question other individuals who were associated with Rana’s Immigration Law Centre office in Mumbai.

“The investigating team is currently asking him about his conversations with the LeT, army and ISI handlers of Headley based in Pakistan, before and after the attacks,” said a third officer, requesting anonymity.

Rana was brought back to India in a special aircraft, a Gulfstream G550, that first stopped in Dubai, before landing in Delhi at around 6pm on Thursday, ending a 16-year-long wait to prosecute one of the planners of the deadliest terror strike in India that killed 166 people and injured 238 others.

Over the next 18 days, Rana’s interrogation, which is being videographed, will cover the entire conspiracy hatched sometime in 2005 when Headley was ordered by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to travel to India for conducting reconnaissance of targets for a major attack, the third official added.

The officials cited above said the initial questioning focussed on the link between Rana and Headley. Rana met one of the planners of the attack in Dubai in the fall of 2008, when he along with his wife planned a trip to China, India and Dubai. This co-planner advised Rana not to go to India because attacks were imminent, NIA’s documents reveal. “Rana is being asked about this Dubai co-conspirator,” said the official quoted above.

A fourth officer pointed to NIA investigation documents that said Rana occasionally communicated directly with some of Headley’s contacts in Pakistan and passed on information as and when required.

“Rana was being asked about completing a visa application for Headley for which false information was submitted to the Indian government, including office lease documents, and documents submitted to the Reserve Bank of India for opening a bank account,” said a second officer, requesting anonymity.

“Since Headley traveled to India on a number of occasions to make videos of the Taj Mahal hotel, other targets, landing sites, routes etc, Rana is also being asked about surveillance videos and pictures he is aware of and seen by him,” said the second officer.

Additionally, NIA’s questions to Rana included other plots by LeT and ISI to carry out attacks on Indian targets, considering Headley had carried out reconnaissance of several targets – including Chabad Houses in Delhi, Goa, and Pushkar, as well as the National Defence College (NDC) in 2009.

“Rana’s prolonged custody was deemed necessary to facilitate an extensive interrogation aimed at uncovering deeper layers of the conspiracy. We suspect that the tactics used in the Mumbai attacks were intended for execution in other cities as well, prompting investigators to examine whether similar plots were developed elsewhere,” said the third officer.

Over the next few weeks, Rana might be taken to Mumbai, Agra, Ahmedabad and Cochin to identify the individuals he met and places he visited, said the first officer.

Rana is only the second person to stand trial in India for the 2008 attacks, and the first time that Indian investigators have in custody a mastermind of the strikes that exposed the country’s under-preparedness, triggered the complete overhaul of the security and intelligence apparatus, and led to the creation of NIA.