New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: In a major breakthrough for the Indian security agencies, Pakistan-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana has been rearrested in Los Angeles on an extradition request by India for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed, US prosecutors said on Friday as reported by news agency PTI.
Tahawwur Rana, 59, who was serving a 14-year sentence at a Los Angeles federal prison, was recently released from jail on compassionate ground after he told a US court that he has tested positive for the COVID-19. He was rearrested following an extradition request by India, where he is a declared fugitive, they said.
Rana was arrested in Chicago in 2011 after he was convicted of providing material support to the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which was behind the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008.Also ReadCoronavirus News Latest Updates | 158 new COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours..
Rana was also accused of helping David Coleman Headley in opening up a branch of his Chicago-based immigration law business in Mumbai as a cover story and travel as a representative of the company in Denmark, ANI reported.
Rana has been charged “with murder and murder conspiracy in India, according to court documents”, he had however been cleared of the more serious charge of “providing support for the attacks in Mumbai.”Also ReadWith 3,137 new COVID-19 infections in last 24 hours, Delhi becomes second..
“Rana’s lawyer said at trial that he had been duped by his high school buddy, Headley, an admitted terrorist who plotted the Mumbai attacks. The defence called Headley, the government’s chief witness who testified to avoid the death penalty, a habitual liar and manipulator,” as reported by ANI.
Mumbai had come to a standstill on November 26, 2008 when 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists who entered the city via sea route from Pakistan carried out a series of coordinated shooting and bombings that injured over 300 and claimed the lives of 166 people in India’s financial capital.
The attacks took place at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station, Cama Hospital, Nariman House business and residential complex, Leopold Cafe, Taj Hotel and Tower and the Oberoi-Trident Hotel.
