New Delhi , 25 January 2025- The US Supreme Court on Saturday cleared the way for the extradition of Tahawwur Rana to India. Pakistani-Canadian origin terrorist Tahawwur Rana is accused of plotting the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. Tahawwur Rana tried hard to avoid extradition to India and challenged his extradition through various legal means, but after losing legal battles in several federal courts including the US Appellate Court, his way to India is now clear.
Who is Tahawwur Rana
Tahawwur Hussain Rana (63 years old) is a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin. Rana has also served in the Pakistani Army and was a doctor in the army. However, in the 90s, Rana went to Canada and then took citizenship there. From Canada, Tahawwur Rana reached America and there he opened an immigration consultancy firm in Chicago. David Headley, convicted in the Mumbai attack, was a friend of Tahawwur Rana. It is claimed that Tahawwur Rana pushed David Headley into the world of crime. Headley did the recce for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Headley was later arrested from America. Tahawwur Rana’s involvement in the Mumbai attack was revealed during interrogation of Headley. Rana was arrested by American investigative agencies in the year 2009.
Accused of plotting the Mumbai attack
Before the Mumbai attack, David Headley did the recce of major places like Taj Mahal Hotel and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai. Headley was an employee of Tahawwur Rana’s immigration consultancy firm. Investigators believe that Headley did this work at the behest of Tahawwur Rana. David Headley was also involved in the conspiracy to attack the Danish newspaper in 2011, which published a controversial cartoon of Prophet Mohammad. In 2011, Rana was tried in the US and convicted of helping Pakistan’s terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba in plotting to attack a Danish newspaper. However, a US jury acquitted him of his involvement in the Mumbai attacks. Rana was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
India fought a decade-long legal battle to extradite Tahawwur Rana
In 2008, 10 terrorists of Pakistan’s terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba entered Mumbai and carried out attacks across the city. 166 people, including six American citizens, were killed in these brutal attacks. In the Mumbai attack case, the National Investigation Agency framed charges against Tahawwur Rana, David Headley, Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed and other top members of the terror group. The Indian government had been trying to extradite Rana for more than a decade. In May 2023, a California district court approved Rana’s extradition to India, but Rana’s legal team appealed the decision. The US government also considered Rana’s extradition to India valid under the treaty between the two countries. Rana’s defense had argued that he had already been convicted in a US court for his role in the attacks and extraditing him would amount to ‘double punishment’, which would violate a legal principle that prevents a person from being tried twice for the same crime. However, the US did not accept these arguments.
