26/11 terror attack case: Court paves way for prosecution of Tahawwur Rana in Delhi

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday sought the trial records of the 26/11 terror attack from a Mumbai court following United States’ nod to the extradition of key accused Tahawwur Rana.
Acting on the petition of National Investigation Agency, district judge Vimal Kumar Yadav directed Mumbai court officials to supply the records.
The trial court records were previously sent to Mumbai due to the presence of multiple cases related to the 26/11 attacks in both cities.
Earlier, US Supreme Court rejected Rana’s final appeal on January 21, removing the last legal hurdle for his extradition.
A court in the US previously ruled that Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Rana could be extradited to India where he is wanted in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists.
Rana, a Pakistani-origin Canadian citizen, was convicted in the US for supporting the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and is wanted in India for his alleged role in facilitating the Mumbai attacks that killed over 174 people. His extradition had been a long-pending demand from India.
Rana’s role in the 26/11 attack involves helping his friend David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen who was born to an American mother and a Pakistani father.
Headley was arrested by the US authorities in October 2009. Rana was allegedly not only aware of Headley’s links to the Pakistan-based banned terror organisation LeT, he also actively helped Headley. Rana provided Headley with a fake identity that helped the latter visit India and identify targets for LeT’s 2008 attack.