India Bringing Tahawwur Rana, What Was His Role In 26/11 Attacks

Tahawwur Rana, accused of plotting the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, is likely to be presented before a Delhi court after he is brought back from the US. Rana is being flown to India on a special plane after he exhausted his legal options to challenge his extradition to India. This plane is expected to touch down tomorrow.

Rana is one of the accused in a conspiracy case the National Investigation Agency filed in connection with the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai that claimed 166 lives. He is likely to be presented in a Delhi court in this case. Sources said Mumbai police had not been officially informed about when Rana will be transferred to the city, where he faces cases linked to the terror attacks.

Who Is Tahawwur Rana

Tahawwur Rana, 64, was born in Pakistan's Punjab province and went on to join the Pakistan Army Medical Corps. He quit in 1997 and moved to Canada, where he started running multiple businesses, including an immigration consultancy. Rana first met David Headley, a key conspirator in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, at the Cadet College Hasan Abdal he went to. According to Tahawwur Rana's petitions in US courts, challenging the extradition to India, he now suffers from multiple ailments, including abdominal aortic aneurysm at immediate risk of rupture, Parkinson's disease with cognitive decline, and a mass suggestive of bladder cancer.

What Has Tahawwur Rana Done?

According to an NIA chargesheet, David Headley travelled to several Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pushkar, Goa and Pune under the guise of a representative with a company, Immigrant Law Centre. The company's office was located at Mumbai's Tardeo Road and it is alleged that Rana helped Headley set up the office. Tahawwur too travelled to different places in India, the chargesheet says. The investigation revealed that Headley, Rana, Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed, LeT co-founder Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and others "aided and abetted terror attacks in Mumbai in which 166 persons were killed and many seriously injured". Headley and Rana also made preparations for attacks in different places, including but not limited to the Chabad houses located in different states of India and the National Defence College, Delhi, the chargesheeet says.

When Was Rana Arrested

According to the chargesheet, David Headley was arrested by the FBI on October 3, 2009, at O'Hare airport in Chicago. "On the basis of the revelation made by Headley, Tahawwur Rana was also taken into custody. On 27th October, 2009 the FBI filed criminal complaints in the District Court of Northern District of Illinois against Headley and Tahawwur Rana for their roles in planning terrorist attacks in foreign lands," it says, adding that Headley and Rana were also charged in the criminal conspiracy case linked to the Mumbai attacks. The chargesheet notes that the conspiracy to attack spots in India was hatched in Pakistan. Seven out of the nine accused, except Headley and Rana, are in Pakistan. The chargesheet says Rana provided logistic, financial and other assistance to David Headley and the other co-conspirators towards fulfillment of the criminal conspiracy to organise terror attacks in India.

Charges Against Rana

The chargesheet says Rana assisted Headley in several ways, including setting up the Immigrant Law Centre in Mumbai as a front organisation to cover their activities and also visited India in November 2008 as part of the criminal conspiracy behind the 26/11 attacks. He is charged under sections relating to criminal conspiracy, waging war against the government of India, murder and forgery and relevant sections under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

What About Headley

David Headley, who was born Daood Sayed Gilani, is in a US prison after he was sentenced to 35 years in jail for his role in the Mumbai attacks. While India continues to push for his extradition, Assistant US Attorney John J Lulejian told a federal court in US' Los Angeles that unlike Rana, Headley had immediately accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty to all charges. "Because Headley fulfilled the required terms, the plea agreement established that Headley would not be extradited to India. Rana's situation is different because he neither pleaded guilty nor cooperated with the United States," he said. In 2018, Headley was seriously injured in a prison attack.