Pakistan-origin Canadian Tahawwur Rana who is one of the main conspirators of 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai could be extradited to India by a court in the United States (US).
The court has fixed 12 February 2021 as the date for the hearing on extradition of Rana for his involvement in the 2008 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack. In that attack, 166 people were killed which also included six US nationals, reports Times of India.
India declared Rana as a fugitive and sent an extradition request. He was arrested in October 2009 after another accused in the case, David Coleman Headley was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
Rana is a childhood friend of Headley who is also known as “Dawood Gilani”. As per the details released by the federal prosecutors, the duo between 2006 and 2008 conspired with other non-state actors in Pakistan to assist Pakistan military harboured Islamic terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harakat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami to plan and execute the terror attack in Mumbai.
The United States later designated both the Islamic organizations as a terrorist group.
Rana who has been in a US prison for twelve years has never pleaded guilty, nor has he cooperated with the authorities. However, Headley immediately accepted his role and pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.
He later turned into a state approver in the case and is serving a 35-years prison term in a maximum-security prison in the US for his role in the attack.
Court records and interviews show that Headley served as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) starting in the late 1990s.