Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key conspirator in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was arrested today by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after his extradition from the United States. Following his arrival in Delhi, the Patiala House Court remanded him to 18 days in NIA custody, after a midnight ruling by Special Judge Chander Jit Singh. The NIA had initially requested 20 days of custody for Rana.
Rana, a Pakistani-origin Canadian-American, was apprehended shortly after landing in the Indian capital. Born in Pakistan in 1961, Rana served as a doctor in the Pakistani Army before emigrating to Canada in the 1990s and gaining citizenship in the early 2000s.
Rana is known for his close association with David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani-American terrorist who conducted reconnaissance for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Headley, currently serving a prison sentence in the US, had testified that Rana played a significant role by providing logistical and financial support to the terror plot.
Indian intelligence agencies have also linked Rana to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani Army, and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the terrorist group responsible for the 2008 attacks.
(This story is published from a syndicated feed)