New Delhi: India is working on the quick extradition of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks accused Tahawwur Rana, following the US Supreme Court junking his review petition in January.
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told media persons Friday that the two countries were working on “procedural issues” after the US Supreme Court on 21 January “declined to hear a petition from the accused”.
“We will keep you updated,” he added.
Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is wanted in India for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which killed at least 167 people and nine out of the 10 terrorists. The only terrorist caught, Ajmal Kasab, was sentenced to death and hanged in 2012.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has assembled a team of five officers, who will travel to the US, once Rana’s extradition order has been signed by the American Secretary of State, as reported by ThePrint.
Normally, the extradition process can occur within 24 hours of the approval given by the US Secretary of State. Rana is currently being held in a detention facility in Los Angeles.
Preparations are being made at Tihar Jail for Rana’s detainment once he is in India. Rana, a former doctor with the Pakistan Army, migrated to Canada in 1997 and later to the US, where he set up an immigration firm, which was allegedly a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist David Headley.
Rana, however, was acquitted in 2011 by US courts on the charge of supporting Headley’s terrorist activities. Headley was convicted. In a separate case, Rana, was convicted of hatching a conspiracy to attack a Danish newspaper and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was released on compassionate grounds, but was later detained by US authorities following a request for his extradition by New Delhi. In 2023, a US court ordered his extradition. Rana challenged the court order in a California district court, which upheld the earlier verdict.
Eventually in November 2024, Rana’s appeal reached the US Supreme Court, which denied his review petition—his last legal recourse to prevent an extradition to India.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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