Mumbai terror attacks: In a latest development, the United States administration has requested a California court to deny a plea by the Pakistani-origin businessman Tahawwur Rana, an accused in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. The President Joe Biden-led government reiterated that Rana must be extradited to India.
This comes after a US court in May had approved the extradition of Rana to India where he is wanted for his alleged role in the deadly incident. Rana is currently lodged into the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles, PTI reported.
The Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman filed a writ of habeas corpus last month challenging the court order. Rana's attorney reasoned that his extradition would be in violation of the US-India extradition treaty.
In response, US Attorney for Central District of California E Martin Estrada asserted that he was "unable to demonstrate that India's extradition request lacks sufficient evidence of probable cause." He further said that there was no evidence to support the petitioner's claims that his business in Mumbai was run legitimately and it might have been run as a cover for his childhood friend David Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The US attorney also said that contrary to Rana's claims of being unaware of the attacks, a 2009 intercept revealed that Rana informing Headley that he was warned about the imminent Mumbai attacks by a co-conspirator, although he may not have been aware about the date.
US court approved Rana's extradition in May
In response to an extradition request from India in 2020, Rana was detained in the US for his involvement in the attacks, in which 10 Pakistani terrorists besieged Mumbai for more than 60 hours, killing more than 160 people, including six Americans. The Biden administration had supported the move.
On May, the US court consented to the Indian request, through the US government for Rana's extradition. "The Court has reviewed and considered all of the documents submitted in support of and in opposition to the request and has considered the arguments presented at the hearing," US Magistrate Judge of the US District Court of California, Judge Jacqueline Chooljian, said in a 48-page court order dated May 16, 2023.
According to reports, Rana was convicted in Chicago in 2011 of providing material support to the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which planned the Mumbai terror attack and for supporting a never-carried-out plot to attack a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed in 2005.
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About the 2008 Mumbai attacks
On November 26, 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists from Pakistan arrived by sea route and opened fire, killing 166 people, including 18 security personnel, and injuring several others during the 60-hour siege in Mumbai.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Hotel, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital and the Nariman House Jewish community centre, now renamed Nariman Light House, were some of the places targeted by terrorists.
At least, nine terrorists were later killed by the security forces, including the NSG, the country’s elite commando force. Ajmal Kasab was the only terrorist who was captured alive. He was hanged four years later on November 21, 2012.
(with agency inputs)
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