The 16-year wait for fugitive Tahawwur Hussian Rana finally was over after Indian investigating agencies got custody of one of the key masterminds and accused of the horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
New Delhi:The 16-year wait for fugitive Tahawwur Hussian Rana finally was over after Indian investigating agencies got custody of one of the key masterminds and accused of the horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. Rana, handcuffed and shackled, is being brought to India on a special aircraft of Indian agencies that will land in Delhi on Thursday afternoon. He will likely be kept in a special cell in Delhi’s high-security Tihar jail. Union home minister Amit Shah termed it a big success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomacy.
The extradition process began after Rana lost his last appeal in the US court. He was handed over to the Indian agencies by the United States of America prison authorities in the Los Angeles detention centre, where he was kept. He is the second terror accused to face trial in the 26/11 case after Ajmal Kasab.
Rana is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. India has also sought the extradition of Headley, a request still pending with the US. The NIA had charged Rana as a "co-conspirator" who provided logistic, financial and other assistance to Headley and other co-conspirators towards the criminal conspiracy to organise terrorist attacks in India.
"Tahawwur Rana's extradition is a big success of Prime Minister Modi's diplomacy," said Mr Shah at an event in New Delhi. He added the Modi government's effort is to bring to justice those who attack India's honour, land and people.
"He will be brought here to face trial and punishment,” Mr Shah said while taunting the Congress for failing to get Rana to India.
The Union home minister, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval held a meeting on Wednesday on the extradition. Director of the Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka and foreign secretary Vikram Misri were also present at the meeting. It is learnt that the PM was briefed on the development. The foreign ministry on Wednesday refused to give any details of the extradition, saying an update will be issued at the “appropriate time”.
Rana will be kept in a Delhi prison for some time for interrogation and later will be taken to Mumbai, where his trial for the carnage will begin. A specialised chamber has been prepared in Delhi’s Tihar jail, keeping in mind the high-value terror accused in custody with access control and CCTV vigilance.
Sources privy to the operation to bring Rana, a Pakistan-born Canadian citizen and a former Pakistan army man, said he has been chained and shackled during transit as per standard operating procedures for such high-value suspects to prevent them from self-harm. The flight will take a short break in Europe for refuelling before heading home.
The extradition of Rana will help probe agencies expose the role of Pakistani state actors behind the dastardly terror act in November, 2008, that claimed 166 lives, sources said on Wednesday. He is wanted by the National Investigation Agency, which is probing the 26/11 attack case and once extradited, Rana will be kept in the NIA's custody initially after due legal formalities, sources indicated.
Rana’s extradition could provide important leads into his travels in parts of northern and southern India days before the carnage in November 2008. The Central security officials had found that Rana had visited Hapur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Kochi in Kerala, Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Mumbai in Maharashtra with his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar between November 13 and November 21, 2008.
Rana had submitted business sponsor letters from the "Immigrant Law Center" and a property tax payment notice from Cook County as his address proof. The sources said once Rana is brought to India, the purpose of these visits would be established.
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House in February, US President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil people of the world" Rana "to face justice in India".
On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went on a rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre after they sneaked into India's financial capital Mumbai using the Arabian Sea route. Among the 166 people killed were US, British and Israeli nationals. The nearly 60-hour assault sent shockwaves across the country and even brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
The terrorists had targeted multiple iconic locations in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, Leopold Cafe, Chabad House and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, each of which Headley had scouted in advance.
India had been trying to extradite Rana for many years because of his association with Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and Harkat-ul Jihadi Islami (HUJI) 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 and planning the attacks on the National Defence College in New Delhi and Chabad House in Mumbai.
During the investigation, the roles of senior functionaries of banned terror groups LeT and HUJI -- Hafiz Muhammad Saeed alias Tayyaji, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Sajjid Majid alias Wasi, Illyas Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Major Abdurrehman alias Pasha with active connivance and assistance from officers of the ISI, namely, Major Iqbal alias Major Ali, Major Sameer Ali alias Major Samir, all residents of Pakistan – have emerged, the sources said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation had arrested Rana in Chicago in 2009, a year after the attacks in Mumbai, for providing support for an aborted plan to attack a newspaper in Copenhagen (Denmark) and providing material support to LeT. He was convicted in 2011 in that case and sentenced to 14 years in jail. However, Rana was acquitted of charges of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terror attacks.
