26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Tahawwur Rana successfully extradited, arrested: NIA
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was brought to India after being "successfully extradited" from the US and was formally arrested, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced on Thursday.
The 64-year-old Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin landed in Delhi in a special plane from Los Angeles on Thursday evening, ending days of speculation of when and how he will be extradited, officials said.
In a statement late in the evening, the NIA said Rana was "formally arrested immediately after his arrival at Delhi airport".
Rana was escorted to Delhi by teams of NIA and National Security Guard (NSG), the agency said.
An NIA team at the airport arrested Rana soon after he emerged from the aeroplane, upon completion of all the necessary legal formalities, it said.
The agency in an earlier statement said that it had secured the successful extradition after years of sustained and concerted efforts to bring to justice the key conspirator and "mastermind of the deadly attack" that claimed 166 lives.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and special public prosecutor Narender Mann, who are representing the NIA, reached the Patiala House court premises shortly after news that Rana had landed in Delhi. Police officials asked mediapersons to leave and said they were ensuring the court premises were fully vacant. The lawyers, however, refused to comment.
Special NIA judge Chander Jit Singh is hearing the case against Rana. Advocate Piyush Sachdeva from Delhi Legal Services Authority is representing the accused.
Meanwhile, tight security has been ensured outside the NIA headquarters at the CGO complex here and the entire premises has been cordoned off by security personnel of Delhi Police and Central Reserve Police Force.
Key roads outside and around the NIA office have been closed for any vehicular traffic. Entry and exit from gate no 2 of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium metro station, which is opposite the probe agency's office, has been barred.
The announcement that Rana would be finally extradited came when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US capital in February. "We are giving a very violent man back to India immediately to face justice in India," US President Donald Trump said at a joint press conference with Modi on February 14.
Trump said his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil people of the world" Rana "to face justice in India".
Rana was lodged in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles.
Rana is accused of conspiring with David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, and operatives of designated terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) along with other Pakistan-based co-conspirators, to carry out the the three-day terror siege of India's financial capital.
Both LeT and HUJI have been declared terrorist organisations by the Indian government under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Among the 166 killed were US, British and Israeli nationals. Besides, 238 people were injured in the mayhem carried out by a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre after they sneaked into Mumbai through the Arabian Sea.
