Tahawwur Rana leaves from Patiala House Court in New Delhi after he was sent to 18-day NIA custody.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday (April 11, 2025) took Mumbai attacks mastermind Tahawwur Hussain Rana into 18-day custody, during which he will be questioned in detail to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 26/11 terror strike.
The anti-terror agency had produced Rana before the NIA Special Court at Patiala House after formally placing him under arrest on his arrival at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport on Thursday evening, following his successful extradition from the U.S.
The court on Friday sent Rana to 18-day NIA custody, following which he was brought from Patiala House courts complex to the NIA headquarters in a heavily-secured motorcade comprising Delhi Police’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and other security personnel.
Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge Chander Jit Singh sent Rana to custody on an application of NIA seeking his 20-day custody.
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Rana will be kept in a highly secured cell inside the anti-terror agency’s head office at CGO complex here, officials said.
“Rana will remain in NIA custody for 18 days, during which time the agency will question him in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks, in which a total of 166 persons were killed and over 238 injured,” said a statement issued by the probe agency soon after the court’s order.
The 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman, a close associate of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks main conspirator David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a U.S. citizen, was brought to India after the US Supreme Court on April 4 dismissed his review plea against his extradition.
According to sources, the NIA had sought Rana’s custody for 20 days to interrogate him, citing clinching evidence including various emails.
The agency told the court that Rana’s interrogation was necessary to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the 2008 attacks.
It also told the court that it had to look into his role as a planner of the attacks.
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The NIA said that as part of the criminal conspiracy, accused no. 1, David Coleman Headley, had discussed the entire operation with Rana before his visit to India.
Anticipating potential challenges, Headley sent an email to Rana detailing his belongings and assets, the NIA told the court, adding that Headley also informed Rana about the involvement of Pakistani nationals Ilyas Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, who are also accused in the case, in the plot.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and Special Public Prosecutor Narender Mann represented the NIA.
Before the proceedings, the judge asked Rana if he had a lawyer.
After Rana said that he did not have a lawyer, the judge informed him that a counsel was being provided to him from Delhi Legal Services Authority.
After that, advocate Piyush Sachdeva was appointed to represent him.
Before Rana was brought to the Patiala House Court, Delhi Police removed mediapersons and members of the public from the complex, citing security concerns.
Police authorities said, “No one would be permitted inside”.
Rana is accused of conspiring with Headley and operatives of designated terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) along with other Pakistan-based co-conspirators, to carry out the three-day terror siege of India’s financial capital.
On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went on a rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, after they sneaked into India’s financial capital using the sea route in the Arabian Sea.
As many as 166 people were killed in the nearly 60-hour assault.
Published – April 11, 2025 03:10 am IST
