Tahawwur Rana lands in India, NIA confirms extradition

New Delhi: Mumbai terror attack case accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who has been extradited from the US, landed in India on Thursday, April 10, from where he will be taken to a high-security ward in Tihar jail.

All necessary preparations have been made in the jail, prison sources were quoted by PTI.

The NIA confirmed that Rana had exhausted all legal options available to him in the US, including multiple appeals and petitions in American courts, before the final extradition was carried out. His return marks the culmination of over a decade of coordinated efforts between Indian and US authorities.

Rana will be taken to NIA Headquarters under three layers of security. Security was ramped up outside the NIA Headquarters in the national capital ahead of his arrival.

Rana, 64, is a Pakistan-born Canadian national and close associate of one of the main conspirators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen.

Rana was brought to India after his last-ditch attempt to evade extradition failed as the US Supreme Court justices rejected his application.

According to officials, a multi-agency team had gone to the US to bring him to India.

On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went on a rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, after they sneaked into India’s financial capital using the sea route in the Arabian Sea.

As many as 166 people were killed in the nearly 60-hour assault that sent shockwaves across the country and even brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.