26/11 plotter Rana to be extradited as US top court rejects plea

The US Supreme Court has paved the way for the extradition of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack accused, Tahawwur Rana, as it turned down the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative’s review petition, officials aware of the matter said on Saturday.

A Canadian national of Pakistani origin, Rana had already lost legal battles in several federal courts, including the US Court of Appeals for the North Circuit in San Francisco, against his extradition. This was his last legal challenge to India’s attempt to bring him to justice in the country over the deadly 26/11 strike, which killed 166 people, including 24 foreign nationals.

On November 13 last year, he filed a “petition for a writ of certiorari” before the US apex court to review the lower court’s ruling, which greenlit his extradition to India. According tothe court order, his plea was rejected on January 21, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the US President.

“It’s a huge victory [for Indian agencies]. Bringing Rana to India would mean a key [26/11] co-conspirator could soon face the Indian criminal justice system. He went to multiple courts in the US to avoid his extradition, but the evidence regarding his involvement in the attack was irrefutable,” said a senior ministry of home affairs (MHA) official on condition of anonymity.

Officials aware of the matter said that India will now send the extradition order to the US Secretary of State, who will certify it and finalise the process of bringing Rana — currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles — to India.

Indian agencies have accused Rana of helping co-conspirator David Coleman Headley carry out reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and providing logistical support to LeT in orchestrating the attacks. He was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2009 for being part of conspiracies to commit terrorist acts outside the US, including in Mumbai and Copenhagen.

In June 2020, India sought Rana’s provisional arrest for his extradition, and the Joe Biden administration supported it. On May 16, 2023, an extradition court certified his extradition to India. The 63-year-old then moved a habeas court in California, which rejected his petition on August 10, 2023. He then approached the circuit court, which turned down his plea in August last year.

“It’s a big diplomatic victory [for India]…At every stage, his appeal against extradition has been dismissed… There is enough evidence against him,” senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani said. 

In his petition, Rana argued that he was tried and acquitted by the federal court in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) on charges relating to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. However, the US government argued against his petition.

“The government does not concede that all of the conduct on which India seeks extradition was covered by the government’s prosecution in this case. For example, India’s forgery charges are based in part on conduct that was not charged in the United States: petitioner’s use of false information in an application to formally open a branch office of the Immigration Law Center submitted to the Reserve Bank of India,” US Solicitor General Elizabeth B Prelogar said.

A medical officer in the Pakistan Army, Rana moved to Canada in 1990 and eventually acquired citizenship. He then shifted to Chicago and opened a consultancy firm. According to Indian agencies, Rana opened a branch of his firm in Mumbai and used it to help Headley gather information about potential targets in Mumbai. During the court proceedings at various stages, federal prosecutors argued that Rana was aware that his childhood friend was involved with LeT and that by assisting him and affording him cover for his activities, he was supporting the terrorist organisation and its associates.

“Rana directed an individual associated with First World to prepare documents supporting Headley’s cover story of opening a First World office in Mumbai and advised Headley how to obtain a visa for travel to India, according to Headley’s testimony, as well as emails and other documents that corroborated his account,” the US government earlier submitted in court.

The US agencies arrested Headley, the son of a Pakistani man and a US-based woman, in 2009 at a Chicago airport. Immediately after his arrest, he began cooperating with authorities and entered a guilty plea with a no-extradition clause. The court accepted his plea.