26/11 Mumbai attack accused Tahawwur Rana arrested in US

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Washington DC: Involved in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Canadian businessman and former Pakistan army doctor, Tahawwur Hussain Rana has been re-arrested by the US in Los Angeles on request of the Indian authorities. Rana(59) linked to Pakistan's spy agency ISI, was recently released from jail when he was found suffering from COVID-19 infection. On June 10, Rana, a co-accused with another ISI operative David Coleman Headley, was picked up by the police in LA, re-arrested and sent to jail.

Assistant US Attorney John J. Lulejian revealed to the court that the Indian government, as per the Extradition Treaty signed between the US and India in 1997, requested for the re-arrest of Tahawwur Rana, involved in the Mumbai attacks in 2008, in which more than 166 people were killed by a Pakistan based terror outfit. The Assistant US Attorney also said that India has informed that Tahawwur Rana is being prosecuted for a number of offences, including the conspiracy to execute a sensational murder.

Earlier in 2018, a National Investigation Agency(NIA) team from India was in the US to seek the extradition of Rana, who co-conspired with Headley to help in the execution of the Mumbai attacks a decade ago, in which 10 terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba held the city hostage for three days as they killed more than 166 people and seriously injured 100 others.

Rana was convicted in the US in 2013 and ordered to serve a 14-year prison term. According to his record in the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator, the terrorist was serving his sentence at San Pedro, California. Tahawwur Rana was due for his release in 2021, after serving nine years in prison.

Meanwhile on Friday, US District Judge Jacqueline Chooljian in the District Court, California, scheduled his hearing for June 30. His attorney has been asked to submit his plea by June 22 and the US government's response is due by June 26. Assistant US Attorney Lulejian said that the offences for which Rana's arrest warrant was issued were covered by the Extradition Treaty.

As per dossier of the Indian agencies Tahawwur Rana was born in Chichawatni in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Rana attained his medical degree from the Cadet College Hasan Abdal, a military residential college in Pakistan. In this college, he met Headley, who became a major ISI operative. A physician by profession, Rana served as a captain general duty practitioner in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps. Rana and his wife, who is also a physician, immigrated to Canada in 1997, and obtained Canadian citizenship in June 2001. The couple lived primarily in Chicago and owns several businesses including an immigration service agency.

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