The NIA also argued that Rana had entered into a criminal conspiracy with other conspirators to commit terrorist acts and his interrogation is needed to unearth the larger conspiracy and other players who have escaped scrutiny
New Delhi: A visibly tired, both due to long distance travel and fighting a legal battle to escape extradition to India, 26/11 Mumbai terror attack key conspirator Tahawwur Hussain Rana landed in New Delhi on Thursday evening. Sporting a white beard and wearing a jumpsuit from the Los Angeles detention centre, Rana landed at 6.22 pm and was taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency the moment he stepped on the Indian soil at high-security Palam airport.
Soon after his arrest, Rana was produced before a special NIA court. The court proceeding started at 11pm.At the start of the proceedings, additional special judge Chander Jit Singh asked Rana if he would like to engage a lawyer or the court should provide him with legal aid. He opted for the latter.
During its argument, the NIA sought 20-day custody of Rana and cited clinching evidence, including emails, and that custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the conspiracy. The NIA also argued that Rana had entered into a criminal conspiracy with other conspirators to commit terrorist acts and his interrogation is needed to unearth the larger conspiracy and other players who have escaped scrutiny.
Post medical examination in line with standard protocols at the airport, the 64-year-old 26/11 Mumbai attack plotter was moved in a “ jail van” and taken to the special NIA court in the Patiala House court complex under heavy armoured escort accompanied by the elite NSG commandos and produced before special judge Chander Jit Singh at 10.30 pm. The court was opened specially for Rana’s case.
At Patiala House court, senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and special public prosecutor Narender Mann represented the NIA. Rana was represented by the Delhi Legal Service Authority lawyer Piyush Sachdeva.
Before Rana was produced in court, police asked the media to leave the venue and ensured the premises were fully vacant while massive security arrangements were put up around the court complex.
The NIA sought the custodial remand to unravel the larger conspiracy involving the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and confront him with corroborative evidence gathered by the anti-terrorism probe agency so far.
Besides the NIA sleuths, a team from multiple covert agencies are all set to join the interrogation of the international terror operator to uncover the workings of the hostile agencies and groups in Pakistan and also to plug the gaps, if any, to secure the security apparatus in the country.
Soon after Rana landed in Delhi, the NIA, in a statement, said it had secured the successful extradition after years of sustained and concerted efforts to bring to justice the key conspirator behind the 2008 mayhem that claimed 166 lives.
“The NIA had secured Rana’s extradition following years of sustained and concerted efforts and after the terror mastermind’s last-ditch efforts to get a stay on his extradition from the US failed. Rana was escorted to New Delhi by teams of NSG and NIA, comprising senior officials, on a special plane from Los Angeles, US. The NIA investigation team at the airport arrested Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin living primarily in Chicago (US), soon after he emerged from the airplane, after completing all the necessary legal formalities,” NIA said in a statement.
The NIA said the extradition of Rana was made possible with the coordinated efforts of ministry of external affairs and ministry of home affairs, along with the relevant authorities in the United States. The agency added that it worked closely with other Indian intelligence agencies through the entire extradition process, “which marked a major step in India’s efforts to bring individuals involved in terrorism to justice, irrespective of which part of the world they had fled to”.
A tight security cover has also been put in place at the NIA headquarters where Rana is likely to be interrogated. Even key roads around the NIA office at the CGO Complex have been closed for 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. A separate high-security cell has been put on standby in the Tihar jail.
Sources said that Rana’s interrogation is likely to spill the beans on the role of Pakistani state actors behind the dastardly act that claimed 166 lives in the Mumbai terror attack. The investigators also hope to find some important leads on his travels in parts of northern and southern India, days before the carnage in the country's financial capital in November 2008.
Rana reportedly visited Hapur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai with his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar between November 13 and November 21, 2008. Sources said there has been a larger conspiracy aimed at targeting other places across the country behind his visits to these places and the exact details would be ascertained only after his interrogation.
Only 12 members related to the investigation will be having access to Rana’s cell. Among these officers are D-G NIA Sadanand Date, I-G Ashish Batra, DIG Jaya Roy. If anyone else wants to visit, they will require prior permission.
During the interrogation, Rana will be shown critical evidence linked to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, including recorded voice samples, photos, videos, and emails connected to the case. These materials, gathered from the investigation, are expected to play a key role in unravelling further details of Rana’s involvement with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley and his linkages within the Pakistani Army-ISI syndicate as well as its proxy terror groups.
"Rana will definitely get convicted in the country, possibly with a death sentence for his involvement in the dastardly terrorist act. He was the person who set up the immigration office (of his firm) in Mumbai in which Headley was given the job and then he got a visa to come to India. The cover for Headley was provided by Rana... So, he and Headley were very close and they knew what was happening. So that is something which his interrogation in India will bring out and what Headley had told him," said former home secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai, who took over as the home secretary barely six months after the deadliest terror strike.
Rana, who is considered a key figure in the 26/11 conspiracy, will also be pressed for details about his interactions with Sajid Mir, the Pakistani terrorist who was reportedly in India to scout targets ahead of the Mumbai attacks. He has been accused by the NIA of facilitating reconnaissance for the attacks by using his immigration consultancy business as a front. This reconnaissance was carried out by Headley, who is presently in a US jail.
“Rana is accused of conspiring with Headley and operatives of designated terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) along with other Pakistan-based co-conspirators to carry out the devastating terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008,” the NIA said.
Investigators are particularly keen to extract goings-on behind Rana’s extensive communication with Headley, who visited India several times between 2006 and 2008, further exposing the concerted links between the terror network and the Pakistani state.
On September 14, 2006, during his first visit to India to conduct reconnaissance, Headley called Rana more than 232 times during his eight visits to India. Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin who served as a doctor in the Pakistani Army, was working closely with Headley, one of the main masterminds of the 26/11 attacks, according to the NIA dossier shared with the US authorities.
