A US court has agreed to an Indian request through the US government to extradite Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana to India, where he is being sought for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
On June 10, 2020, India filed a complaint seeking the provisional arrest of 62-year-old Rana with a view to extradition. The Biden administration supported and approved Rana’s extradition to India.
“The Court has reviewed and considered all documents presented in support and opposition to the request, and has considered the arguments presented at the hearing,” Judge Jacqueline Chooljian, US Magistrate Judge for the US District Court Central District of California, said the 48-page court order dated May 16, which was released on Wednesday.
“Based on such review and consideration and for the reasons discussed herein, the Court makes the findings below, and certifies to the Secretary of State of the United States that the extradition of Rana on the offenses charged is the subject of the request ,” the judge wrote.
Rana was arrested in the US on an extradition request by India for his role in these attacks.
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing his role in the 26/11 attacks carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in 2008. The NIA has said that it is ready to initiate proceedings to bring him to India. diplomatic channel.
During the court hearing, lawyers for the US government argued that Rana knew that his childhood friend, Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, was involved in Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and by aiding and abetting Headley’s activities By giving him cover, he was supporting. Terrorist organizations and their affiliates.
Rana knew about Headley’s meetings, what was discussed, and the plans for the attacks, including some of the targets. The US government insisted that Rana was part of the conspiracy and that there was probable cause that he committed the significant crime of committing a terrorist act.
On the other hand, Rana’s lawyer opposed the extradition.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid siege to iconic and important places in Mumbai for over 60 hours, attacking and killing people.
Because the members of the conspiracy committed the death sentence with intent to cause death, or at least committed those acts with knowledge of its imminent danger, there is sufficient evidence that the elements of murder would be satisfied, federal prosecutors said. .
There is an extradition treaty between India and the US. The judge ruled that Rana’s extradition to India was entirely within the jurisdiction of the treaty.
The judge said, India has issued an arrest warrant and charged Rana with the following crimes, to which the US is proceeding: (a) conspiracy to wage war, murder, forgery for the purpose of fraud, as real Using in a forged document or electronic record, and (b) waging war, (d) murder, (e) committing a terrorist act and (f) conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, to commit a terrorist act.
“The offenses alleged above are extraditable offenses within the meaning and scope of the treaty and over which India has jurisdiction,” the judge ruled.
The judge noted that sufficient competent evidence has been presented to establish probable cause that Rana is the person charged in India and whose extradition is sought by India in this action, and that Rana committed the above offenses. for which extradition is sought. ,
“It is therefore ordered that Tahawwur Hussain Rana be committed to the custody of the Marshal of the United States pending final decision on extradition and surrender by the Secretary of State for India for trial of the offenses for which extradition is granted Is. Title 18, United States Code, Section 3186 and Treaties,” the judge ruled.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,