Could unravel role of Pak state actors: NIA
The extradition of Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India may allow agencies to further probe the audacious 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and the role of Pakistani state actors in the carnage that left 166 persons dead, including US, British and Israeli nationals, in 2008.
Rana, a 64-year-old Canadian national of Pakistani origin, filed a “petition for a writ of certiorari” before the US Supreme Court on November 13 to review a lower court ruling, which was denied.
“We are looking forward to the early extradition of Rana, who could shed light on some new aspects of 26/11, if any,” an NIA official who was part of the probe into the attacks said.
Currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles, Rana is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
Headley obtained consent from Rana, who owned First World Immigration Services in Chicago and elsewhere, to open a First World office in Mumbai as a cover for his activities. “Rana directed an individual associated with First World to prepare documents supporting Headley’s cover story of opening a First World office in Mumbai and advised Headley how to obtain a visa for travel to India, according to Headley’s testimony, as well as emails and other documents that corroborated his account,” the US government said.
“Rana’s extradition will help in substantiating the role of Pakistan’s state actors in carrying out the attack,” another official said.
Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and the army had conspired and executed India’s worst terror attack in Mumbai by sending 10 terrorists to the city on November 26, 2008. The group targeted multiple iconic locations in Mumbai, including Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, Leopold Cafe, Chabad House and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, each of which Headley had scouted in advance.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Rana in Chicago a year after the attacks in October 2009 for arranging material support for terrorist attacks in Mumbai and Copenhagen. Rana was convicted for arranging logistics for the beheading of employees of the Danish newspaper ‘Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten’, among other crimes.
India has been trying to extradite Rana for many years because of his association with the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Headley and his active involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
It is alleged that Rana was aware of Headley’s terror links and even helped in reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai.