End game for Tahawwur
Rana (64), a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, exhausted all his legal remedies to avoid being sent to India. He had filed a series of petitions before the US Supreme Court but all were dismissed.
According to official sources, Rana, after landing in Delhi will most likely be produced before the Patiala House Court where the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will seek his custody.
Notably, India and the US had signed an extradition treaty in 1997 to transfer individuals accused or convicted of serious crimes. It ensures that fugitives cannot evade justice by crossing international borders.
It is still unclear whether Rana will be lodged at Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail or Delhi’s Tihar Jail. However, the prison authorities at both the places have been asked to make necessary arrangements to lodge him.
Rana, who is also a close associate of prime accused David Coleman Headley, was serving supervised detention at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles after completing a 14-year sentence in 2023.
During a media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed that the process of extraditing Rana was underway. “The US Supreme Court rejected his plea. The process of extradition is on. But we don’t have an update but will provide at an appropriate time," Jaiswal said.
When asked about Headley’s extradition, the spokesperson called it an issue which was “part of the ongoing discussion". Headley is currently lodged at a Chicago prison under a plea bargain he had made with the US government. Indian investigators have interrogated him in the past.
On February 14, US President Donald Trump had announced Rana’s extradition to India during a joint press conference in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington.
Rana is accused of aiding Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Headley by providing logistical support, including a visa through his Chicago-based immigration firm, to scout targets in Mumbai.
Rana’s extradition is being considered as significant development by investigative agencies as it would help expose the role of Pakistani state actors in the 26/11 attack.
Ten members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terror outfit, had carried out shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai beginning on November 26, 2008. A total of 166 persons had died and more than 300 were injured in the attacks. Among the dead were US, British and Israeli nationals.
According to official sources, Rana had played a major role in the attacks and visited Hapur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Kochi in Kerala, Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Mumbai in Maharashtra with his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar days before the carnage in 2008.
“Once Rana is brought to India, the purpose of these visits would be established," a source said.
India