Here’s What NIA Said After Extraditing 26/11 Mastermind Tahawwur Rana To India
NIA said the extradition was facilitated with assistance from US DoJ and the US Sky Marshal.
In a major breakthrough nearly 16 years after the Mumbai terror attacks, India on Thursday secured the extradition of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, one of the masterminds behind the 26/11 massacre, following a protracted legal tussle in the United States.
Rana, who was in US judicial custody, was extradited after exhausting all legal options to resist the move. The extradition comes nearly a year after the District Court for the Central District of California ordered his transfer to Indian authorities on May 16, 2023. Rana had challenged the order in the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and later approached the US Supreme Court. All of his petitions were denied, the NIA said in a press release.
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The NIA said the extradition was facilitated with active assistance from the US Department of Justice and US Sky Marshal, with Indian intelligence agencies, the NSG, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs playing key roles in the coordination process.
Rana is accused of conspiring with David Coleman Headley, also known as Daood Gilani and operatives of Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) to execute the attacks that killed 166 people and injured over 230 in Mumbai in November 2008, the NIA said in its press release.
LeT and HUJI are both designated terrorist organisations under India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Rana’s extradition marks a major milestone in India’s efforts to bring all perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks to justice.
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