New Delhi: Tahawwur Rana, the Pakistan-origin Canadian businessman and the accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, is likely to be extradited to India soon. A panel of judges of the US Court of Appeals has ordered his extradition to India, reported The Economic Times. Diplomatic talks are reportedly underway to facilitate Rana's extradition.
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 two countries.
Rana along with Headley planned the Mumbai terror attack. The Pakistan-origin businessman is accused of assisting terrorists with reconnaissance efforts. The Mumbai Police named Rana in its comprehensive 405-page chargesheet as an operative for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) having links with terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Notably, Rana was convicted in Chicago in 2011 of providing material support to LeT, which planned the Mumbai terror attack and for supporting a never-carried-out plot to attack a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed in 2005.
(With inputs from agencies)
