New Delhi: Clearing the deck for Tahawwur Rana’s extradition to India for his role in orchestrating the terrorist attack in Mumbai in November 2008, the United States Supreme Court has junked his review petition against the move.
The court denied Rana’s review petition Tuesday according to official records, a month after the US government countered his writ.
Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, has been sought by India for his involvement in the 26/11 terror attack that claimed the lives of at least 174 people and left more than 300 others injured.
“Now that the US Supreme Court has junked his petition, the process has begun for his extradition. The Ministry of External Affairs will notify the details in due course of time,” a top official in the security establishment told ThePrint.
ThePrint has reached out to Rana’s counsel, Joshua Lewis Dratel, for a comment. This report will be updated if or when he responds.
A former doctor with the Pakistan Army, Rana had migrated to Canada in 1997, and then to the US, where he set up an immigration firm, which, Indian agencies say, was used as a cover for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist David Headley to recce key buildings for the deadly terror attack in Mumbai, the National Investigation Agency has alleged in the chargesheet against him.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had arrested Rana within less than a year for allegedly providing material support to Headley. While Headley was convicted for his role, Rana, in 2011, was acquitted due to a lack of adequate evidence.
However, he was convicted and sentenced for 14 years for hatching an unsuccessful attack against a Danish newspaper. He was released from prison amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but the United States arrested him again after New Delhi moved the extradition request.
Rana’s extradition was first ordered by an extradition court in May 2023, which he challenged in a California district court. However, the district court upheld the verdict of the extradition court, following which he moved the US Courts of Appeals, which also junked his petition and affirmed the extradition verdict against him.
Having his appeal quashed by courts at different levels, the Supreme Court was the last legal remedy available to Rana to stop his extradition. He moved the Supreme Court in November last year.
ThePrint had reported last month how the US government countered his objections to extradition to India and requested the court to reject the petition.
Also read: ‘Misplaced, mistaken’. How US govt countered Tahawwur Rana’s bid to avoid India extradition in court