NIA asks for info from US against Rana in 26/11 case
The NIA has requested additional details from the US on 26/11 conspirator Tahawwur Rana, as investigations continue after his recent extradition.
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sent a request to the US seeking additional details in its probe against 26/11 Mumbai attacks co-conspirator Tahawwur Hussain Rana based on his interrogation in India, people familiar with the development said on Thursday.
A formal request, seeking certain specific details on Rana, has been sent through mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT).
An officer who didn’t want to be named said although a supplementary charge sheet was filed in the case in July this year but “we needed some more information based on his interrogation as the investigations are continuing”.
Rana was brought from Los Angeles on a special aircraft on April 10, and formally arrested after a five years extradition battle, which was supported by the US government. He has been charged for murder, terrorism, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and waging war against the country.
HT reported in July that evidence collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), including intercepted conversations and emails between Rana, David Coleman Headley and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) planners in Pakistan, forms the basis of conspiracy charges filed by the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
Rana, 64-year-old former captain of the Pakistan Army who served as a medical officer, moved to Canada in 1990 and acquired citizenship before shifting to Chicago, where he opened a consultancy firm. He conspired with Headley and Pakistan-based handlers to carry out Mumbai attacks. Currently, he is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
The broader 26/11 conspiracy involved 10 accused, with seven based in Pakistan during the 26/11 attacks. Apart from Rana and Headley, the Pakistan-based conspirators include Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi (LeT operations chief), Sajid Majeed alias Sajid Mir (LeT commander), Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha (retired Pakistani major), Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali (ISI officers), Abdul Rehman Makki (LeT’s former deputy head who died in Lahore last December), and Ilyas Kashmiri (al-Qaeda leader killed in a US drone strike in June 2011).
While several Pakistani conspirators have been sentenced—Hafiz Saeed to 78 years in 2020, Lakhvi to three consecutive five-year terms in 2021, and Sajid Mir reportedly to eight years—Indian officials maintain they continue operating freely under ISI protection.
