New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a supplementary chargesheet against Tahawwur Rana, key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case who was extradited from the US to India this April.
Rana’s judicial custody has also been extended till 13 August.
The first chargesheet naming Rana was filed in 2011 and lists him among nine accused. He was also named as an accused in a supplementary chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police in 2023.
A Canadian national of Pakistani origin, 64-year-old Rana was extradited from the US after he ran out of judicial leverage. The NIA subsequently took his custody for further interrogation about the deadly terror attacks that had lasted three days and killed more than 170 in 2008.
The formal extradition process for Rana was initiated in 2020 and he will be facing trial 17 years after the attack.
Seven others accused of being involved in the attack, including two Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers, are believed to be in Pakistan.
David Coleman Headley, accused of planning the Mumbai attack and an operative of the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was sentenced to 35 years in prison after he was arrested by authorities in the US in October 2009 and pleaded guilty to all 12 counts brought against him.
Rana was arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in October 2009, days after Headley’s arrest. In 2018, a special NIA court in India hearing the 26/11 case issued an arrest warrant against Rana.
Rana is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail, in a high security ward. He stays in a separate cell, in isolation, from other prisoners in the ward. He will appear for court hearings through video conferencing.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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