Tahawwur Rana grilled by NIA: What probe agency wants to know from 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks accused
NIA interrogates 26/11 Mumbai attacks conspirator Tahawwur Hussain Rana based on leads from phone calls with co-conspirator David Headley.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is questioning 26/11 Mumbai attacks conspirator Tahawwur Hussain Rana based on various leads gathered by the probe agency during the course of its investigation, including a large number of phone calls between him and his co-conspirator David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen currently in prisons in that country.
The 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman was brought to the NIA headquarters early Friday morning after a Delhi court granted 18-day custody to the central probe agency, following his extradition from the United States.
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Tahawwur Hussain Rana is being questioned on his suspected links with the officials of Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and his association with terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which had orchestrated the attacks.
What does NIA want to know from Tahawwur Rana?
- Fund management: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Rana is interrogating Tahawwur Rana about his meetings and email conversations with Pakistan-based handlers as well as how he was managing funds to run a non-operative immigration office in Mumbai, which worked as a cover for David Coleman Headley's surveillance activities between 2006 and 2009.Also Read | Tahawwur Rana ‘talking’ as money trail in questioning focus
- David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani is a co-conspirator in the Mumbai attacks. He is a US citizen and is currently lodged in prison in that country.
- Terror conspiracy: The questioning covers the conspiracy hatched around 2005 when David Headley was directed by Lashkar-e-Taiba to conduct reconnaissance in India.
- Rana would also be quizzed about individuals he met, especially an alleged key contact in Dubai who is said to be aware of the plans to carry out Mumbai terror strikes.
- The NIA officials are hoping to find some important leads on his travels in parts of northern and southern India, days before the attacks in the country's financial capital on November 26, 2008.
- "Rana will remain in NIA custody for 18 days, during which time the agency will question him in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks, in which a total of 166 persons were killed and over 238 injured," said a statement issued by the probe agency soon after the court's verdict on Friday early morning.
