2008 Mumbai terror attacks: Decks cleared for Tahawwur Rana’s extradition, as US Supreme Court dismisses his plea

The officials said the extradition process will start with Rana’s deportation from the US and Indian officers will go there and take him into custody.
Tahawwur Rana
Tahawwur RanaFile
Updated on
3 min read

NEW DELHI: Decks have now been cleared for the extradition of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who is a convict in the Mumbai terror attacks case, as he has no options left to avoid his deportation to India with the US Supreme Court dismissing his review petition against the move.

India has been seeking Rana’s extradition for him being wanted in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks case. Rana is a Canadian national of Pakistani origin.

The petition in the US Supreme Court was the last legal option for him to avoid his extradition to India. Earlier, he had lost a legal battle in several federal courts, including the US Court of Appeals for the North Circuit in San Francisco.

Incidentally, the Supreme Court’s denial came on January 21, a day after Donald Trump took charge as the 47th President of the US. Rana had filed a “petition for a writ of certiorari” before the apex court on November 13.

According to reports the US Supreme Court said, “Petition DENIED.”

Sixty-four-year-old Rana is currently detained and lodged at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.

According to India agencies Rana happens to be an associate of Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, which shook Mumbai. At least 166 people were reported to have been killed in the attacks orchestrated by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a banned outfit.

Ajmal Kasab was the sole attacker and he was caught alive and was the only convict executed in the case. The Indian agencies in their investigation found two more masterminds, who are yet to be brought to justice and Rana happens to be one of them.

Another accused Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, an Indian operative, who worked for the Lashkar terror group, was arrested in 2012 after being identified by Kasab and has currently been in jail in Mumbai.

Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, had earlier worked as a doctor for the Pakistan Army. He had prior knowledge of the attacks, and a federal jury convicted him of helping Lashkar with material support in 2011.

Rana and Hadley were arrested in 2009 by the FBI while plotting an attack against a Danish newspaper. During his interrogation in the US, Hadley had revealed before Indian officers that he had travelled to India five times between 2007 and 2008 and done recce for the Mumbai attacks - using a five-year visa that Rana had helped him obtain.

Hadley had also revealed the role of LeT in the Mumbai attacks and said he had opened an immigration company to hide his identity with Rana’s help. He had testified that Rana gave him all the logistical and financial support he needed.

According to officials here, the efforts to get Rana’s extradition have been a long diplomatic and legal battle for India. In 2019, the government had first approached the US with a request to extradite him. For the next six years, India repeatedly followed this up with the US authorities while Rana looked for legal options.

They said that now since the legal obstacles are being taken care of, Rana’s actual extradition would be a matter of time and once he is brought to India his further interrogation by agencies will help reveal new details and missing links in the case, they added.

The officials also contended that the cases relating to 26/11 attacks could be reopened if the investigators find any new clues from Rana.

The officials said the extradition process will start with Rana’s deportation from the US and Indian officers will go there and take him into custody.

A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in the city.

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