A special flight transporting Tahawwur Rana, accused in the Mumbai terror attacks, is set to arrive in Delhi shortly. Security measures have been enhanced outside Patiala House Court, where Rana is expected to appear on Thursday after being extradited from the US, according to an official.
This follows the recent decision by the US Supreme Court to reject Tahawwur Rana’s request for a stay on his extradition to India, marking a victory for New Delhi, which has long aimed to bring the Canadian-Pakistani national to its territory.
In May 2023, the US District Court for the Central District of California approved the extradition of Tahawwur Rana to India. At that time, Tahawwur Rana challenged the ruling in court, and in October of that year, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted him additional time to submit a motion regarding the issue.
Tahawwur Rana submitted a habeas corpus petition opposing the California directive, to which assistant US Attorney and Criminal Appeals Chief Bram Alden responded, “Rana is subject to extradition to India as per the clear terms of the treaty, and India has demonstrated probable cause to charge him for his involvement in terrorist incidents that caused 166 fatalities and 239 injuries.”
Who is Tahawwur Rana
Tahawwur Rana is a childhood acquaintance of David Headley, an American citizen who was apprehended in October 2009 by US officials and given a 35-year prison sentence for his participation in the Mumbai attacks.
Tahawwur Rana attended school in Pakistan and served as a physician in the Pakistan Army before relocating to Canada, where he ultimately received Canadian citizenship.
He subsequently set up a consultancy firm named First World Immigration Services in Chicago, which gave David Headley an ideal disguise to locate and monitor potential targets for the Pakistani terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Charges against Tahawwur Rana
On November 26, 2008, ten terrorists from LeT invaded Mumbai and attacked key sites such as the Taj hotel and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, resulting in the deaths of 166 people, including six Americans.
Tahawwur Rana was apprehended by US law enforcement following David Headley’s capture in October 2009. In 2011, he was found guilty in Chicago of supplying material support to the LeT for the attack in India.
