Who is Tahawwur Rana, what was his role in the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai? Which Modi government is going to bring from America to India

An accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks will soon be brought to India from the US. The US court has approved the extradition of Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana to India. Indian officials had talked about Tahawwur Rana’s involvement in the Mumbai terror attack. Through these allegations, there was a demand that it should be sent to India. In such a situation, let us know who is Tahawwur Rana, what was Rana’s role in the attacks, what is his relation with David Headley and what are the arguments given by the Government of India regarding extradition.

Who is Tahawwur Rana?

Rana, 62, was a childhood friend of Headley. You all will be familiar with the name of David Headley. If not, then let us tell you in brief. Headley is an American citizen, his father a Pakistani while his mother a US resident. Arrested by US authorities in October 2009. Was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his involvement in the Mumbai attacks. The US government had said that Headley was convicted of conspiracy to bomb public places in India. Conspiracy to kill and maim persons in India, and six counts of aiding and abetting the killing of US citizens in India. Also part of a plot to bomb a newspaper office in Denmark. Apart from this, his friend Tahawwur Rana studied at Hasan Abdul Cadet School in Pakistan, in which Headley also studied for five years. After serving as a doctor in the Pakistani army, Rana moved to Canada and eventually obtained citizenship there.

What was the role of Tahawwur Rana in the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai?

Rana later established a consultancy firm called First World Immigration Services in Chicago USA. It was a branch of this business in Mumbai that provided the perfect cover for Headley to identify and monitor potential targets for the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). In the 26/11 attacks, on November 26, 2008, 10 LeT terrorists entered the country’s financial capital and for three consecutive days, the city of Mumbai was in the grip of terror. Major landmarks like Taj Hotel and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Railway Station were attacked. The violence claimed the lives of 166 people, including foreigners. It was later learned that the Pakistani nationals who carried out the attack had reached India through boats. During the court hearing, the lawyers for the US government argued that Rana knew that Headley was involved with LeT and by assisting him and providing cover for his activities, he was aiding the terrorist organization and its associates. Rana was arrested by US police in October 2009, soon after Headley’s arrest at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. He was convicted of providing material support to LeT for the India attack in Chicago in 2011 and of aiding a conspiracy to attack Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005. However, jurors in the US cleared Rana of the more serious charge of aiding and abetting the Mumbai attacks. Rana’s lawyer said that he had been betrayed by his high school friend Headley, who had masterminded the attacks.

What was India’s extradition request?

In early 2020, Rana was released early on health grounds from the Terminal Island prison in Southern California after testing positive for COVID-19. Fearing that Rana, now in the last years of his sentence, would go free. India forwarded its pending provisional arrest warrant and extradition request for Rana. In 2021, the Biden administration urged a federal court to certify India’s extradition request. In his submission before a federal US court in Los Angeles, Assistant US Attorney John J Lulejian said that Rana met all the criteria to be extradited to India for his trial, even as Rana’s lawyer opposed it. Did. In 2014, a sessions court in Delhi issued fresh non-bailable warrants against nine people who were listed as absconders by the NIA.