The National Investigation Agency (NIA) formally arrested Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the key conspirator in the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, immediately after he arrived in New Delhi yesterday evening, following his successful extradition from the United States. Rana was escorted to New Delhi by teams of NSG and NIA, comprising senior officials, on a special plane from Los Angeles. The NIA investigation team at the airport arrested Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin living primarily in Chicago, soon after he emerged from the airplane after completing all the necessary legal formalities.
He was taken for medical examination and produced before a special NIA Judge in Patiala House Court last night, during which the NIA sought his 20-day custody. However, the court sent Rana to the National Investigation Agency’s 18-day custody.
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. With the coordinated efforts of Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs, along with the relevant authorities in the United States, NIA has worked closely with other Indian intelligence agencies through the entire extradition process, which marked a significant step in India’s efforts to bring individuals involved in terrorism to justice, irrespective of which part of the world they had fled to.
Rana was being held in judicial custody in the US under proceedings initiated by the NIA under the India-US Extradition Treaty. The extradition finally came through after Rana’s various litigations and appeals, including an emergency application before the US Supreme Court, were rejected with the active assistance of US Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, US Marshals Service, FBI’s Legal Attaché Office in New Delhi, and US Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser for Law Enforcement. The diligent and persistent efforts of India’s Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs culminated in securing the surrender warrant for the fugitive, leading to his eventual extradition.
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 devastating terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008. A total of 166 persons were killed and over 238 injured in the deadly attacks. Both LeT and HUJI have been declared as terrorist organisations by the Government of India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
