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US Supreme Court denies Tahawwur Rana’s review plea against his extradition to India.
Tahawwur Rana, who is being held at metropolitan detention centre at Los Angeles, will be handed over to NIA by FBI on a day to be decided by both sides.
The US Supreme Court has denied a plea filed by 26/11 Mumbai attacks co-conspirator Tahawwur Rana seeking an emergency stay on his extradition to India.
According to the case status on the US Supreme Court website, the plea was denied on Monday.
Earlier, the clerk of the Supreme Court had listed the matter on April 4 for “conference”.
A case being distributed for conference at the US Supreme Court means the court’s clerk’s office has sent the case materials (petition, briefs in opposition/support, etc.) to the justices’ chambers for review and discussion at an upcoming conference, where they decide whether a review should be granted.
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) official said the agency expects the US authorities to soon convey the dates when its team could travel to the US to bring Rana to India to face trial.
Rana had approached chief justice John G Roberts Jr. after Supreme Court judge justice Elena Kagan on March 6 declined to entertain his plea.
In his first plea against his extradition, Rana claimed that the likelihood that he would be tortured in India was high because he was a Muslim of Pakistani origin, and a former Pakistan army officer, adding that he was being sent into a “hornet’s nest”.
Rana also cited a recent UK high court decision rejecting arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari’s extradition to India on grounds that he could face “torture” to buttress the application.
The US Supreme Court on January 21 rejected Rana’s plea against extradition to India and his surrender to NIA was approved by the Donald Trump administration during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Washington last month.
Currently lodged at metropolitan detention centre at Los Angeles, Rana will be handed over to NIA by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on a day to be decided by both sides.
Between November 26 and 29, 2008, 166 people, including 24 foreign nationals, were killed as a 10-member heavily armed Lashkar-e-Taiba squad that arrived in Mumbai via the Arabian Sea, held the city hostage for close to 60 hours, gunning down civilians at will.
Interrogation of captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab and technical investigations revealed the direct role of Pakistan’s spy agency ISI, and three of its military officials were named as key conspirators along with LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.
David Coleman Headley, a US citizen and childhood friend of Rana, conducted reconnaissance of the targets in Mumbai. He was arrested by FBI in 2009 and is currently serving a 35-year term after he entered into a plea bargain with authorities there.
It is for the first time ever Rana will be questioned by Indian agencies. When a NIA team travelled to the US in June 2010 to question David Coleman Headley, Rana was not questioned.
According to officials, once in India, Rana will also be taken to Mumbai – where the attacks took place and his immigration company, First World International’s branch was opened and was used by David Coleman Headley as a cover during his reconnaissance travels.
Other than Mumbai, Rana will also be taken to Agra, Hapur, Cochin and Ahmedabad, which he visited with his wife between November 13 and 21, 2008, just before the attacks.
With Rana finally being extradited to India, NIA officials hope to get information about the exact role of conspirators based in Pakistan and details about those in the Pakistan army and ISI who oversaw and funded the terror attack.