Washington DC: The US Supreme Court on Friday approved the extradition of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Tahawwur Rana's extradition to India. It is a big diplomatic win for India. The Pakistan-origin Canadian business was convicted in the 2008 terror attack case that resulted in the death of 164 people.
On January 21, The US Supreme Court denied a petition of writ of certiorari filed by Rana seeking to prevent his extradition to India. The writ had been filed in November 2024 against an earlier order of a lower court that had ruled in favour of his extradition to India. Notably, the Canadian businessman's co-conspirator David Headley pleaded guilty and cooperated against Rana.
Who Is Tahawwur Rana?
Tahawwur Hussain Rana is a Pakistani former military doctor who served in the Pakistan Army. Rana moved to Canada after gaining citizenship and became an immigration service businessman.
In 2011, he was convicted of providing support to the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and of allegedly plotting an attack on the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
On 17 January 2013, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the Danish newspaper attack case. A US court has denied the bail plea of Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, a key accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and declared a fugitive by India, asserting that he has not negated the "risk of flight".
Rana was born and raised in Chichawatni in the province of Pakistan's Punjab and attained his education at the Cadet College Hasan Abdal. Notably, at this college, Rana befriended Headley. A physician by profession, Rana served as a captain general duty practitioner in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps.
He and his wife, who is also a physician, immigrated to Canada in 1997, and obtained Canadian citizenship in June 2001.
Rana is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.
In July last year, A US court rejected the USD 1.5 million bail application of the Pakistani-origin Canadian describing him a flight risk.
Rana, a childhood friend of David Coleman Headley, was re-arrested on June 10 last year in Los Angeles on an extradition request by India for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people, including six Americans, were killed. He is a declared fugitive in India.
US District Court Judge in Los Angeles Jacqueline Chooljian, in her 24-page order dated July 21, denied bail to Rana arguing that he is a flight risk.
In August last year, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Rana was “extraditable to India" citing the extradition treaty between the two countries.
Rana along with Headley planned the Mumbai terror attack.
