Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana on Monday inched closer to being extradited to India to face justice as the United States Supreme Court rejected his appeal seeking a stay on his extradition.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
Tahawwur Rana is associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
In February, Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Also read: US Supreme Court denies Tahawwur Rana’s review plea against his extradition to India
Rana had then renewed his Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts. A notice on the Supreme Court website read on Monday that Rana's application had been denied by the court.
{{/usCountry}}Rana had then renewed his Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts. A notice on the Supreme Court website read on Monday that Rana's application had been denied by the court.
{{/usCountry}}Tahawwur Rana was convicted in the US of being part of a conspiracy to provide support to the Denmark terrorist plot and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
What Tahawwur Rana wrote in his plea
In his petition, Rana had argued that his extradition would violate the US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
He said that the likelihood of torture would be higher because he was a Pakistani Muslim.
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
He also said that his extradition would amount to a "de facto" death sentence.
166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
With inputs from PTI