New Delhi: An accomplice of the 26/11 Mumbai attack convict David Headley, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, has exhausted nearly all his legal options in the United States and faces extradition to India as early as December, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the security establishment have confirmed to ThePrint that Rana’s extradition to face trial in the 26/11 cases probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Mumbai Police seemed “imminent”.
A three-judge bench of the US Courts of Appeals on 15 August this year junked Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s habeas corpus petition, challenging a magistrate judge’s order that declared Rana “extraditable” to India for his alleged role in the 26/11 attack.
Formerly a doctor with the Pakistan Army, Rana moved to Canada in 1997 and then to the US, where he set up an immigration firm. Indian investigative agencies have alleged that Rana used the firm as a cover for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Headley to reconnaissance key buildings in Mumbai before the 26 November 2008 attacks.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Rana within less than a year for allegedly providing material support for the 26/11 attack to Headley. While Headley was convicted for his role, Rana, in 2011, was acquitted due to a lack of adequate evidence.
On the other hand, the US courts that year convicted Headley and Rana for an aborted attack plan on Danish paper Jyllands-Posten, which published controversial cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. A US district court, on 17 January 2013, sentenced Rana to 14 years in jail.
However, during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Rana’s release was approved on health grounds before the completion of his jail term, sparking outrage in the Indian security establishment.
India then filed an extradition request for Rana. Citing the request and calling Rana a “flight risk”, the US government moved a district court in California to prevent Rana’s release, which was effectively rescinded.
After this, extradition proceedings against Rana gained pace.
Also Read:Retaliating against terror is tricky. But India’s message after Balakot has worked so far
26/11 conspirators should get medal, Rana told Headley
Last year in May, a US extradition court approved Rana’s extradition to India, rejecting his argument that a double jeopardy provision in the 1997 India-US extradition treaty protected him and that India did not provide sufficient evidence for his crimes in that country. The double jeopardy provision prevents a person from being tried or punished more than once for the same crime.
In its judgment, the extradition court noted that ahead of the 26/11 attack, Headley returned to the US after conducting a few rounds of surveillance in Mumbai and met Rana in Chicago over several days to discuss the Mumbai terror plot, such as landing points for terrorists attacking the city’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The extradition judge documented that Rana had a big smile and laugh on his face when Headley shared the landing site plans with him in Chicago.
The court further documented that months before the 26/11 attack, Rana was planning to include India in his plans to travel to Dubai and China. However, an accomplice of Headley warned Rana against visiting India and made him aware of an “imminent” terrorist attack there. This fact came to light when the FBI intercepted a long conversation between Rana and Headley on 7 September 2009. Over the call, Rana confirmed to Headley that while in Dubai, he received a tip-off about the 26/11 Mumbai attack.
In the same conversation, intercepted by the FBI, Rana told Headley that the nine LeT terrorists neutralised by the Indian security forces in Mumbai by 29 November 2008 “should be given Nishan-e-Haider”, Pakistan’s highest military honour, and the people behind the conspiracy should get a “medal for top class”.
In June 2023, Rana moved a California district court to oppose the order of the extradition court on the grounds of the double jeopardy provision and a lack of sufficient evidence. However, the district court junked his petition, following which Rana moved the US Courts of Appeals, which also junked his petition and affirmed the extradition verdict against him.
Sources in the security establishment said that Rana’s only chance of stopping extradition is before the US Supreme Court. However, officials believe that the SC will most likely affirm the series of verdicts passed by courts at all levels.
Also Read:26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana to be extradited, but main players remain protected in Pakistan
‘Rana helped Headley settle in Mumbai, recce buildings’
Within a month of the 26/11 attacks, the then UPA government established the NIA as the central counterterrorism agency in December 2008.
In October 2009, the FBI reached Rana’s doorsteps after Headley spilled the beans on their partnership after his arrest at Chicago airport. Headley pleaded guilty to 12 charges of terrorism and cooperated in the US investigation into the 26/11 attack in exchange for non-extradition to India.
The NIA, in November 2009, booked Rana and Headley, along with Hafiz Saeed and other LeT operatives, for the 26/11 attack under Indian Penal Code Section 121A (conspiracy to commit offences against the State), Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and Section 6(2) SAARC Convention (Suppression of Terrorism) Act.
In the US courts, Headley eventually testified against Rana as a government witness in the Danish newspaper case, ensuring Rana’s conviction on 9 June 2011.
Rana, however, was acquitted in the 26/11 attack case that year.
The then-ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in India expressed disappointment in his exoneration while reminding the world about his role in aiding Headley’s smooth travel and stay in India to recce buildings and installations.
“It may be recalled that evidence was produced in the US court that David Headley had advised Rana of his assignment to scout potential targets in India; that Headley obtained Rana’s consent to open an office of First World Immigration Services as a cover for his activities; that Rana advised Headley on how to obtain a visa for travel to India; and that Headley and Rana had reviewed how Headley had done surveillance of the targets that were attacked in Mumbai. Evidence was also produced that Rana told Headley that the terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks should receive Pakistan’s highest military honours posthumously,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a 10 June 2011 statement. “We are, therefore, disappointed that Rana was acquitted on the count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terrorist attacks. However, it must be remembered that Rana was tried in a US court in accordance with US law. Criminal trials in the US are jury trials, and there are special rules governing such jury trials.”
Months later, the NIA filed its chargesheet against Rana for his alleged role in hatching the 26/11 conspiracy with top LeT decision-makers, including chief Hafiz Saeed.
The NIA alleged that the LeT referred Headley to Rana who ran the immigration firm First World International in Chicago. The duo, according to the agency, met in June 2006 before Headley embarked on his first India tour.
According to the NIA, Rana enabled Headley to recce buildings under the guise of running the Mumbai office of Rana’s US-based immigration firm. Headley allegedly received USD 25,000 from another man, Major Iqbal, to establish M/s. Immigrant Law Centre in India.
Rana, the NIA further alleged, provided Headley with an employment letter to submit along with his application for a multiple-entry business visa to India. “The letter stated that Headley would be their (immigration firm’s) regional manager in Mumbai, supervising and coordinating their operations in the South Asian Region,” the NIA chargesheet stated.
The NIA also alleged that Rana used all his contacts in Mumbai to help Headley settle down and take premises on rent. When Headley first landed in Mumbai, one contact of Rana—unaware of Headley’s larger plot—received him at the airport.
As part of the conspiracy to develop contacts with influential people, Headley allegedly joined a wellness centre at a posh locality opposite the American Consulate in Mumbai. The NIA recorded that Headley recced buildings in Mumbai by himself or through contacts he cultivated—who had no idea about his overall plot. The places Headley surveyed included Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Towers, Hotel Trident, Siddhivinayak Temple, Phadke Temple, Mantralaya, Harbour area, railway stations, bus stations, World Trade Centre, etc.
According to the NIA, Rana later helped Headley extend his visa for India for 10 years.
The LeT allegedly asked Headley to reconnaissance the Taj hotel, including the potential landing points for attackers, and videotape the route from the nearest police station to the hotel on the bank of the Arabian Sea. The NIA said that while carrying out the LeT’s orders, Headley was in regular contact with Rana over calls.
“Headley (A-1) was in regular contact with Tahawwur Hussain Rana during his stay in India. During the first visit, David Coleman Headley (A-1) was in contact with Tahawwur Hussain Rana (A-2) over telephone for more than 32 times, 23 times during the second visit, 40 times during the third visit, 37 times during the fifth visit, 33 times during the sixth visit and 66 times during the eighth visit,” the NIA chargesheet stated.
The agency alleged that a set of 10 terrorists from Pakistan used the blueprint, recorded by Headley with the help of Rana, to launch a series of attacks in Mumbai, killing 166 people and leaving several hundred injured.
On 28 August 2018, a special NIA court in Delhi issued an arrest warrant against Rana in the 26/11 case.
The original report was published on 30 October, 2024.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)