Who is Tahawwur Rana, the 26/11 accused former Pakistan Army doctor whom a US court ruled can be extradited to India?
A US court has ruled that a Pakistani Canadian, who is one of the key conspirators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, can be extradited to India to face trial in the country. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that Tahawwur Rana can be extradited to India under the extradition treaty between the two countries.
US court clears?Tahawwur Rana's extradition?
The court made the ruling while rejecting an appeal filed by Rana against the District Court in the Central District of California's denial of his habeas corpus petition, challenging a magistrate judge's certification of him as extraditable to India for his alleged participation in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
The 63-year-old Rana is a wanted man in India for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. Rana is a close confidant of David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani-American double agent who was the key conspirator of the 26/11 terror attack.
Also read:?Tahawwur Rana sentenced to 14 years in jail
Who is?Tahawwur Rana
Born in Chichawatni in Pakistan's Punjab, Rana was a physician by profession and served as a captain general duty practitioner in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps. After his retirement, Rana moved to Canada in 1997 and started an immigration service business that had offices in Chicago, New York, and Toronto.
Indian intelligence agencies believe that his immigration service business was a cover for terrorist activities. He is believed to have direct ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistan's ISI. Both he and Headley were acting on the behest of Major Iqbal, a shadowy figure in the ISI, who coordinated the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
How?Tahawwur Rana was caught?
However, the duo was not busted for their role in 26/11 but was caught by the US authorities while planning an attack on a Danish newspaper that published a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad.
In 2013, Rana was found guilty of providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba and planning the attack on the Danish newspaper but was acquitted in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case. Rana was sentenced to 14 years in prison but was released in 2020 on compassionate grounds.
However, he was re-arrested following India's request to extradite him to face trial in the 26/11 case.
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