The US authorities were unwilling initially, but constant prodding and push by NIA officials made Rana’s extradition a real possibility now
For 17 long years, six Americans – Ben Zion Chroman, Gavriel Holtzberg, Sandeep Jeswani, Alan Scherr, Naomi Scherr and Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum – were denied justice by their own country but with Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s extradition cleared, India will serve them justice, which might bring little closure for their families.
These six US nationals died along with 160 other Indians during the three-day carnage brought upon Mumbai between November 26 and 28, 2008, by a 10-member suicide squad of terrorists belonging to the Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT).
Sources say Rana can be brought to India as soon as the US completes the rest of the procedural formalities.
Also read: Trump clears 26/11 plotter Tahawwur Rana’s extradition to India; what's next?
Bid to stall extradition foiled
Officials say the first concrete indication that the US might be willing to hand over Rana to India came in at the fag end of 2022. Rana sought multiple judicial interventions in the US to stall the extradition, but finally, the US Supreme Court rejected all his pleas, and now President Donald Trump has cleared the remaining hurdle.
“It looked like a long shot when India started pursuing the goal to bring Rana to justice in India. Our priority was David Coleman Headley who did recce of possible targets in Mumbai for the November, 2008 attacks. Headley was in direct touch with Lashkar operatives who planned the attack. He would have exposed Pakistan’s complicity in the attack in more detail. But the US authorities were unwilling to send Headley to India and he had entered into plea bargain in the US to save himself from death sentence and extradition to any other country. So focus first shifted to ensuring Headley’s deposition in the 26/11 attacks through video conferencing,” said a police official who has since retired from service.
Officials say, in technical terms, India has two cases with regard to the 26/11 attacks. The first probe was carried out by the Mumbai police in which, following the video deposition of Headley, lone captured terrorist Amir Ajmal Kasab was sentenced to death after the conclusion of the trial. The second probe was carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in order to look into the larger conspiracy to carry out a series of attacks after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The conspiracy started with the Mumbai terror strike and then continued further to plan attacks on installations like the National Defence College (NDC) in the national capital.
Rana not yet charged in 26/11 probe
As of now, Rana has not been charged by the Mumbai police in its 26/11 probe. However, in the larger conspiracy case, Rana and Headley along with five others – Lashkar’s parent outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, his key deputy Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, al Qaeda commander Illyas Kashmiri (killed in a US drone strike) and former Pakistani military officers – Sajid Majid and Abdul Rehman Pasha – were formally charged by the NIA.
The NIA probe revealed that following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Headley and his handlers in Laskhkar and Pakistani spy agency ISI, conspired to attack installations like NDC in Delhi, various Chabad Houses (centres to disseminate Orthodox Judaism by the Chabad movement) across the country, Israeli embassy in Delhi and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. Headley had done recce of all these installations following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
As soon as the FBI picked Headley and Rana in the US in October 2009, Indian counter-terror sleuths first focused on Headley. Sources say a senior Intelligence Bureau official travelled to the US immediately after Headley’s arrest but to India’s dismay he wasn’t given access to Headley.
“We realised that the US authorities had too much to hide about their association with Headley. Therefore they were never going to send Headley to India to face justice,” said DP Sinha, former IB special director, who retired as secretary (security) later.
David Headley’s ties with Lashkar
Indian counter-terror officials are now convinced that Headley’s relationship with Lashkar started in 2002, just after the 9/11 attacks, and the US agencies knew what Headley was doing. Probe has revealed that in all Headley attended five training camps of Laskhar in Pakistan between 2002 and 2005.
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On multiple occasions, after the completion of his training in camps, Headley discussed with Rana his membership in Lashkar and the training he received there. Therefore, Rana had prior knowledge about what Headley was doing and what exactly the Lashkar plan was.
The probe also revealed that it was at the beginning of 2006 that Lashkar decided to use Headley for a possible attack in Mumbai. In February 2006, in order to facilitate his activities on behalf of Lashkar by portraying himself in India as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani, Headley changed his name from “Daood Gilani” (original name given by his parents before they separated) to David Coleman Headley in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Used immigration firm as cover
Headley needed a cover to carry out surveillance activities in India and here Rana came to help him. Both Rana and Headley had gone to a military school in Hasan Abdal in Pakistan and were part of an online group called Abdalians. Headley told Lashkar brass about Rana who owned an immigration service business by the name of “First World Immigration” which had an office in Chicago and other locations.
Precisely in June 2006, Headley travelled to Chicago and met Rana and informed him about the “assignment” in India. He told Rana that opening an office for First World Immigration would help him cover up his activities. Rana agreed to open an immigration office in Mumbai and provide assistance to Headley. An associate of Rana prepared documents to support Headley in his plan.
Rana told Headley how to get a visa for his travel to India. In applying for this visa, Headley misrepresented his birth name and his father’s name to avoid any suspicion. Headley then travelled to Pakistan and showed Lashkar brass that how with Rana’s help he got an Indian visa. It was in September, 2006, Headley first travelled to Mumbai using the cover provided by Rana and started making surveillance videos of possible targets in Mumbai.
How Headley, Rana coordinated attack
Probe further revealed that in June 2007, Headley travelled to Chicago and met with Rana to apprise him of his surveillance work in Mumbai which included a video of Taj Hotel that was later attacked by the Lashkar squad. Again in April, 2008, Headley was in the US for six weeks and met Rana in May end. He again apprised how the plan to attack Mumbai was shaping up. He told Rana about possible landing sites around Mumbai and also surveillance he had conducted at other cities in India. He also informed Rana that the attack was getting a bit delayed in waiting for a calmer sea as the suicide squad was to travel through the sea route. A Lashkar operative had told Headley that he should find a landing point in front of Taj Hotel only. Headley duly informed Rana about it too.
Further, Headley told Rana that Lashkar wanted to plan more attacks in Delhi and asked whether it was possible to open an office of his firm, First World Immigration, in Delhi as well, which would be a perfect cover for his activities. Following the Mumbai attack, they started working on a plan to carry out more strikes in Delhi and other locations and with Rana’s help Headley travelled to India again in March 2009 to conduct recce of more targets.
“At every step, Rana knew what Headley was doing using his immigration business as cover. It is time now Rana faced justice for his acts,” said a former police official.
But before Rana, India wanted to lay hands on Headley but the US agreed only for his video deposition in the Mumbai 26/11 trial.
Ensuring Headley’s video deposition
First in August 2015, and then in January 2016, twice, the then Mumbai crime branch chief Atul Kulkarni travelled to the US along with lawyers to lay the groundwork for Headley’s video deposition. In February, 2016, Headley deposed through video in a Mumbai trial court.
Also read: Ready to jail 26/11 accused Rana in Maharashtra after extradition: Fadnavis
Once Headley’s deposition was done, Indian officials focused on Rana. The US authorities seemed unwilling initially but by the end of December 2022, the NIA officials were informed by their US counterparts that Rana’s extradition is a real possibility. Kulkarni, the officer who travelled to the US to pave the way for Headley’s video deposition, had by then joined the NIA on deputation and continued to work on the case.
“I’m happy that long efforts to ensure Rana’s extradition are about to bear fruit,” says Kulkarni who has since retired from service.
In NIA, another IPS officer, Sanjeev Kumar Singh, too played a key role in paving the way for Rana’s extradition, say officials. Singh retired from service in 2020 and was employed with the National Security Council Secretariat under National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. He later died while undergoing treatment for dengue in Gurgaon.
