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Submitted additional evidence against Tahawwur Rana in fresh charge sheet: NIA
The case pertains to a criminal conspiracy hatched by David Coleman Headley, Rana and other members of LeT and HUJI to carry out terrorist attacks
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Wednesday that the supplementary charge sheet filed against Tahawwur Rana - accused number 2 in agency’s 26/11 Mumbai attacks larger conspiracy probe - pertains to the submission of documents regarding Rana’s extradition and the additional evidence collected by it.
“The case pertains to a criminal conspiracy hatched by David Coleman Headley, Tahawwur Hussain Rana and other members of LeT and HUJI to carry out terrorist attacks in different parts of India. The supplementary chargesheet pertains to the submission of documents regarding the extradition of accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana and additional evidence collected by NIA,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
To be sure, NIA filed the main charge sheet against Rana and nine other co-conspirators including David Coleman Headley and LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, way back in 2011.
After filing the fresh charge sheet, NIA said in compliance with a June 6 court order, it has “submitted a compliance report under Section 207 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) regarding the supply of documents related to the earlier chargesheet filed in 2011”.
Rana was named as an accused by NIA in its charge sheet filed in 2011 along with Headley (currently in the US) six conspirators in Pakistan - Hafiz Muhammad Saeed (Lashkar-e-Taiba chief), Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi (operations chief of LeT), Sajid Majeed alias Sajid Mir (a top commander of LeT), Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha (a retired major in the Pakistani military), Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali (both ISI officers); and two others - LeT’s former deputy head and Hafiz Saeed’s brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki (who died in Lahore in December last year) and Ilyas Kashmiri (leader of al-Qaeda and its Pakistan-based affiliate Harkat-ul Jihad Islami) killed in a US drone strike in June 2011.
Hafiz Saeed was handed out a 78-year jail term in Pakistan in 2020 following US pressure, but Indian officials say that “he was under the protection of the ISI and freely carries out his group’s terror activities”. Similarly, Sajid Mir was said to be arrested and given an eight-year jail term but not much is known about his whereabouts. Lakhvi was also sentenced in 2021 to three consecutive five-year sentences for terror-funding, but Indian agencies believe that he continued to remain active.
No action has ever been taken against the two ISI and one military officer.
“Seven out of 10 conspirators were based in Pakistan at the time of 26/11 attacks, from planning stage to managing the control room. We sent letters of request (letter rogatories) to Pakistan government seeking information and evidence against them but till date, there is no cooperation,” said a senior officer, who asked not to be named.
Rana’s friend David Coleman Headley, who conducted the reconnaissance of the targets in Mumbai during multiple visits to India, is currently serving a 35-year jail term in the US.
A medical officer in the Pakistan Army, Rana moved to Canada in 1990 and eventually acquired citizenship. He then shifted to Chicago and opened a consultancy firm. According to Indian agencies, Rana opened a branch of his firm in Mumbai and used it to help Headley gather information about potential targets in Mumbai. During the court proceedings at various stages, federal prosecutors have argued that Rana was aware that his childhood friend was involved with LeT and that by assisting him and affording him cover for his activities, he was supporting the terrorist organisation and its associates.
