26/11 attack accused Pak-origin Canadian Rana can be extradited to India: US

Press Trust of India

Washington: Imprisoned Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, who is sought for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, can be extradited to India, a US court in California has ruled.

Judge Jacqueline Chooljian of US District Court in Central District of Los Angeles in the order dated May 16 said that based on the foregoing, the Court concludes that 62-year-old Rana is extraditable for the offences for which extradition has been requested and on which the United States is proceeding.

India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing into his role in the 26/11 attacks carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-eTaiba terrorists in 2008. He was arrested in the US on an extradition request by India for his role in these attacks. The NIA has said that it is ready to initiate proceedings to bring him to India through diplomatic channels.

During the court hearings, federal prosecutors have argued that Rana was aware that his childhood friend Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley was involved with Lashkare-Taiba and that by assisting Headley and affording him cover for his activities, he was supporting the terrorist organisation and its associates. Rana knew of Headley's meetings, what was discussed, and the planning of the attacks, including some of the targets.

The US government asserted that Rana was part of the conspiracy and there is probable cause that he committed the substantive crime of commissioning a terrorist act. Rana's attorney, on the other hand, opposed the extradition. A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations of Mumbai.