New Delhi: Tahawwur Rana, one of the masterminds of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, is finally in Indian custody, 17 years after he was arrested in the US. He is onboard a private plane as security agencies didn’t want to take any chances by bringing him in a commercial jet. Rana had exhausted all his legal options and his extradition comes after the US supreme court rejected his petition for a stay. Rana is a crucial link to Pakistan’s terror groups and ISI and played a starring role in planning and coordinating the attacks.
Rana finally in Indian custody
National Investigation Agency’s IG Ashish Batra and DIG Jaya Roy are leading the 7-member team to get Tahawwur Rana to India. The team also consists of 3 officers of R&AW and MEA. NIA will formally take custody and interrogate Tahawwur Rana at its New Delhi headquarters. Rana could also be kept in Tihar Jail, while arrangements have also been made at a Mumbai prison, where he will be taken later to face trial. The exercise was supervised by national security adviser Ajit Doval, alongwith officials from the Home Ministry. Rana is likely to spill the beans on ISI-LeT nexus and reveal the role of his co-conspirator David Headley in Mumbai 26/11 attacks. Recently, US president Donald Trump has confirmed during prime minister Modi’s visit that they will be handing over Rana to India.
Rana was exposed by his dear friend David Coleman Headley, whom he met at Cadet College Hasanabdal in Pakistan’s Attock district. Rana is a Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman, who served as a doctor in the Pakistani Army before moving to Canada in the 1990s and became a citizen. He later shifted to Chicago in the US where he came in touch with Headley again. Headley is the man who conducted recce at locations which the 10 terrorists eventually targeted in Mumbai. Headley was arrested in 2009 and turned approver in the case.
Cog in the wheel or the wheel itself?
Exhaustive details in NIA’s 2009 chargesheet shows that Rana was the number 2 conspirator after David Headley, coming ahead of even Hafiz Saeed who is termed as A3 in the chargesheet. So Rana joined hands with Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), two terror groups operating out of Pakistan, in 2006. Headley convinced another conspirator and LeT terrorist Abdur Rehman to meet Rana and take him into confidence. Rana and Rehman met in Dubai as the wheels of conspiracy gathered pace. Later, LeT chief Hafiz Saeed himself ordered Headley to seek help from Rana and use his contacts for travel to India. This clearly establishes that Rana was not just a cog in the wheel, infact he powered the wheel as the chargesheet establishes that Rana provided logistics, finances and other assistance to David Headley and other co-conspirators.
How Rana ‘managed’ Headley’s India visit
Since, it has been established that Rana had a prominent role in the 26/11 attacks, let’s look at how he went about executing his role. Rana helped Headley in securing an Indian visa by providing false information at the Indian consulate in Chicago. Next, they established and started the office of Immigrant Law Centre in Mumbai to provide base and cover for their terror activities. Rana also allowed Headley to use his immigration firm –First World International– as a cover for executing his terror assignment. Finally, Headley arrived in Mumbai from Karachi on 14th September 2006 and here he met an individual, who was asked by Rana to arrange lodging and office space for Headley. Interestingly, the bond between Headley and Rana was so strong that on his 3rd visit to India, Headley informed only Rana and didn’t tell his handlers in Pakistan. Around June, 2007, Headley again took Rana’s help in securing a 10-yr visa extension with option for multiple entries.
How Headley was ‘connected’ to Rana
What needs to be highlighted here is that Rana was the only person that Headley kept in contact with during his stay in India. Infact, his LeT and ISI handlers had already decided that no calls will be made from Pakistan to India and therefore Rana will be his only link during his stay in India. So, In his first visit to India, Headley spoke to Rana 32 TIMES. In his second visit they chatted 23 times. In the third visit, they spoke 40 times, in the 6th visit it was 33 times and in the 7th visit, the duo spoke nearly 66 times. The point that is being made here is that Rana was not a side actor. He had a starrring role in the 26/11 plot.
Rana visits India before 26/11 attacks
As the strike date was approaching, LeT and ISI through Rana told Headley to extend the rent agreement for office for 15 more days till mid November 2008. This was for facilitating Rana’s visit to India in November 2008. This was planned in advance in consultation with LeT’s Sajid Majid and ISI’s Major Iqbal. Rana visited India between 13th to 21st November, just days before the attacks on 26th November.
Clearly, Rana was not just a bits and pieces player and that’s why his extradition will throw light on further threads of this intricate terror conspiracy. The duo of Rana and Headley didn’t stop here..
Beyond Mumbai, plotting more terror attacks
They were plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper office for publishing controversial images of Prophet Muhammad and fresh attacks on Chabad centres in India. Headley visited India from 7th to 17 March 2009 for reconnaissance of Chabad Houses located in Delhi, Pushkar, Goa and Pune. Again, he was in constant touch with Rana who provided logistical support. Prior to his India visit, Headley had discussed the entire plot with Rana and he had also informed Rana about the role of HuJI chief Ilyas Kashmiri and LeT’s Abdur Rehman in the latest conspiracy. But their plan was cut short by US authorities who stumbled upon their latest chilling plot for mass terror strikes.
A narrative was built in recent years, that Rana was tricked or blackmailed by Headley but these details prove that he is a terrorist who plotted deadly terror attacks which killed 166 persons and injured 238 persons. Now after 17 years, we have a man who was in the inner circle of Pakistani state’s terror apparatus. This will be bigger than disclosures made by Ajmal Kasab.
