Tahawwur Rana, accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, is being flown to India on a special aircraft after running out of legal options in the United States, according to sources. The plane will stop for refuelling and is expected to land in India tonight or early tomorrow.
This comes after the US Supreme Court refused to stop his extradition to India. On Monday, the court officially denied his request for a stay. Earlier, in March, a similar plea had also been rejected.
Rana had told the US court that he was seriously ill, suffering from an abdominal aortic aneurysm (which he said could rupture anytime), Parkinson’s disease with memory loss, and possibly bladder cancer. He claimed he might not live long enough to face trial in India and feared being targeted there due to his nationality, religion, and background.
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In February, US President Donald Trump met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and publicly said that Tahawwur Rana would face justice in India.
Rana is a Pakistani-born businessman and former doctor who had links with terrorist David Coleman Headley—one of the main planners of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. He is also believed to have ties with the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI.
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A US court had earlier cleared him of helping with the Mumbai attacks but found him guilty in two other cases. He was sentenced to over 10 years in prison. After his health declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was released from jail but later re-arrested for extradition to India. He tried to block the extradition through the legal system, but all his appeals have now failed.
