Tahawwur Rana's Extradition From US: What Happens After 26/11 Accused Lands In India?
Tahawwur Rana Extradition: Tahawwur Rana’s surrender warrant has been executed and a multi-agency team will land in India with him shortly.
Tahawwur Rana is set to land in India and face trial in the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack case after being extradited from the United States. Tahawwur Rana’s surrender warrant has been executed and a multi-agency team will land in India with him shortly, sources said.
This comes after New Delhi assured Washington about the safety and security of Tahawwur Rana, sources told CNN-News18 as earlier the fugitive had raised concerns about possible torture in custody and legal aid in India.
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US officials also sought clarity about the security arrangements made for Tahawwur Rana in Tihar jail- where he is likely to be lodged, it was learnt.
Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman, is known to have been an active operative of the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He played a pivotal role in facilitating travel documents for David Headley who conducted reconnaissance of key targets in Mumbai which were later attacked killing 164 people, including six Americans.
What Happens When Tahawwur Rana Lands In India?
Upon landing in India, Tahawwur Rana is likely to be produced in the Patiala House special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court. NIA could seek custodial interrogation of the terror attacks accused, for which NIA headquarters and Tihar jail have tightened security, sources revealed.
Read more: From Abu Salem To Ravi Pujari, A Look At India’s High-Profile Successful Extraditions
What Are The Charges Against Tahawwur Rana?
The NIA charge sheet against Tahawwur Rana- filed in December 2011- accused him, David Headley and six others of planning and executing terror attacks in India. The charge sheet included statements of 134 witnesses, 210 documents and 106 emails including one from David Headley’s wife who “congratulated" him “for his graduation" and also said that she “saw the show (broadcast of the terror attack) all day ."
David Headley and Tahawwur Rana were in constant communication in the run up to the 26/11 attacks, emails accessed by NIA showed.
As per the charge sheet, Tahawwur Rana became part of the attacks conspiracy in 2005 as an operative of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harakat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) and was closely engaged with Pakistan-based conspirators. Tahawwur Rana provided logistics and financial assistance to David Headley who was entrusted with the task of doing a “reconnaissance of the predetermined target and look for other targets", as per the charge sheet.
What NIA Wants Tahawwur Rana To Reveal?
NIA suspects Tahawwur Rana knew in detail about the Mumbai terror attack. As per probe officials, Tahawwur Rana visited Hapur, Delhi, Agra, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai with his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar between November 13 and November 21, 2008- a week before the attack. NIA would want Tahawwur Rana to reveal the purpose of these visits.
He could also be shown emails, call records and other technical evidence which has been gathered during the investigation.
Probe revealed that David Headley used many different email addresses for communicating to avoid being traced. “Haidergillani1@hotmail.com " appears to be David Headley’s most used email address while Tahawwur Rana used “tahawwur@yahoo.com" and “immigration@ameritechi.net".
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