New Delhi: A flight carrying 26/11 mastermind Tahawwur Rana has left the United States of America and is likely to land in the national capital, Delhi, tomorrow early morning or afternoon, according to NDTV.
A private plane, which took off from the US at 7:10 pm on Wednesday India time, is carrying Rana.
Rana will be accompanied by a special team of intelligence and investigative officials.
The plane will make a brief refuelling stop in Europe before arriving in New Delhi.
Earlier in the day, A Five-member multi-agency Indian team, led by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG)-rank officer of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), reached the US to facilitate the extradition process.
According to sources, after landing in India Rana’s custody will be handed over to the NIA. Rana will be kept in the Tihar central prison and will undergo a trial at a special NIA court in Delhi.
High-Level Meeting Before Rana Lands
Ahead of Tahawwur Rana’s extradition, a high-level security review meeting was held at the Union Home Ministry. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were present at the meeting to review the security arrangements ahead of his arrival in the national capital.
Rana is accused of facilitating travel documents for David Headley, who conducted reconnaissance missions of key targets later attacked in Mumbai. The NIA’s investigation claims that Rana, who was allegedly associated with terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harakat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), joined the conspiracy in 2005 and was in close contact with Pakistan-based operatives.
Who Is Tahawwur Rana?
Tahawwur Hussain Rana is a Pakistani former military doctor who served in the Pakistan Army. Rana moved to Canada after gaining citizenship and became an immigration service businessman.
In 2011, he was convicted of providing support to the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and of allegedly plotting an attack on the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
On 17 January 2013, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the Danish newspaper attack case. A US court has denied the bail plea of Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, a key accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and declared a fugitive by India, asserting that he has not negated the “risk of flight”.
Rana was born and raised in Chichawatni in the province of Pakistan’s Punjab and attained his education at the Cadet College Hasan Abdal. Notably, at this college, Rana befriended Headley. A physician by profession, Rana served as a captain general duty practitioner in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps.
He and his wife, who is also a physician, immigrated to Canada in 1997, and obtained Canadian citizenship in June 2001.
Rana is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.
In July last year, A US court rejected the USD 1.5 million bail application of the Pakistani-origin Canadian describing him a flight risk.
Rana, a childhood friend of David Coleman Headley, was re-arrested on June 10 last year in Los Angeles on an extradition request by India for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people, including six Americans, were killed. He is a declared fugitive in India.
US District Court Judge in Los Angeles Jacqueline Chooljian, in her 24-page order dated July 21, denied bail to Rana arguing that he is a flight risk.
In August last year, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Rana was “extraditable to India” citing the extradition treaty between the two countries.
The US Supreme Court rejected his final appeal earlier this month. Rana along with Headley planned the Mumbai terror attack.
