Officials leave for US to bring Tahawwur Rana to India; NIA may take him into custody

The multi-agency team has left the US with Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana to India, according to sources. Rana's application seeking a stay against extradition was denied by the US Supreme Court recently.

Speculations are that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will take Rana into custody on his arrival in India, according to local media reports. His arrival and subsequent legal actions will be handled by the agency and senior officials of the Home Ministry are keeping a close watch on the developments.

A multi-agency from India has left for the US to bring Rana to India and process all the paperwork. He is being currently held at the metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.

It was India's long-drawn effort that resulted in the extradition of Rana despite him using all avenues at his disposal to prevent the NIA's extradition effort, including submitting an Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, and then renewing it and directly sending it to US Chief Justice John Roberts.  

Also read: Tahawwur Rana's extradition can tie loose ends related to 26/11

Rana argued that his extradition to India violates 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." "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.

Before that, he employed a British barrister and Queen’s Counsel Paul Garlick, who argued for the benefit of double jeopardy to prevent the extradition. His arguments were demolished by NIA Senior counsel Dayan Krishnan, representing the NIA pro bono, however, demolished the arguments.

He had also made another appeal against the US State Department order to delay the process on humanitarian grounds, citing his health issues.  

Rana is an associate of 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. Rana is learnt to have connections with terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Pakistan's ISI.

India