Wait ends: 26/11 plotter Rana lands in Delhi, arrested, produced in court

New Delhi: Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was brought to India after being “successfully extradited” from the US and was formally arrested, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced on Thursday.

The 64-year-old Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin landed in Delhi in a special plane from Los Angeles Thursday evening, ending days of speculation of when and how he will be extradited, officials said.

The NIA produced Rana before a court here on Thursday night, hours after he was extradited from the US, and sought his 20-day custody.

At the time of publishing this paper, the court order was not known.

Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and special public prosecutor Narender Mann are representing the NIA while advocate Piyush Sachdeva from Delhi Legal Services Authority is representing Rana.

Rana was brought to the court in a cavalcade of multiple vehicles, including a jail van, armoured Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) vehicle and an ambulance.

In the evening, the NIA said Rana was “formally arrested immediately after his arrival at Delhi airport”.

He was escorted to Delhi by teams of NIA and National Security Guard (NSG), the agency said.

An NIA team at the airport arrested Rana soon after he emerged from the airplane, upon completion of all the necessary legal formalities, it said.

The agency in an earlier statement said that it had secured the successful extradition after years of sustained and concerted efforts to bring to justice the key conspirator and “mastermind of the deadly attack” that claimed 166 lives.

“With the active assistance of USDoJ, the US Sky Marshal, NIA worked closely with other Indian intelligence agencies, NSG through the entire extradition process, which also saw India’s Ministry Continued on P6