Tahawwur Rana, accused of orchestrating the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, is expected to arrive in India early tomorrow morning after being extradited from the United States. He is expected to touch down in India along with a team of intelligence and investigative officials, a media house reported.
A Canadian businessman of Pakistani descent, he is recognised as an active operator of the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He was reportedly the hand in providing travel documents for David Coleman Headley (also known as Dawood Gilani), a Pakistani-American who conducted surveillance of their targets in Mumbai.
A special plane is transporting Rana and will make a stop at an undisclosed location before reaching the capital.
In accordance with recommendations from a US court, stringent high-security measures have been established at two prisons in Delhi and Mumbai. Top government sources have indicated that upon his arrival, Rana will be presented before a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in New Delhi for custody, with the Mumbai Crime Branch expected to take him into custody afterward.
The extradition operation is being conducted under the watch of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and senior officials from the NIA and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Rana is reported to have travelled to Mumbai himself between November 11 and 21, 2008, via Dubai. During his stay at the Hotel Renaissance in Powai, he assessed logistical arrangements for the attacks, leading to the assaults on November 26. The ghastly attack took the lives of over 170 individuals. So far, Ajmal Kasab is the only LeT terrorist convicted in connection with the deadly attack, having been captured alive by officials during the siege.
India formally sought Rana’s provisional arrest in June 2020, which initiated the legal process for his extradition. In February of this year, US President Donald Trump confirmed Rana’s extradition, asserting that he would “go to India and face justice.”
