Court documents reveal Rana helped Headley many times but after their arrest, Headley did what he knows best — he betrayed his friend to save his skin
One was a deserter from the Pakistan army. The other was a heroin smuggler notorious for cutting deals with prosecutors to save his skin from harsh sentences.
Once, they were thick as thieves, their friendship going back several decades. Now, less so.
Investigators have managed to dig out one of the earliest examples of friendship between David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a double agent of American agencies and dreaded terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who is about to be extradited to India to face justice for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed.
The story of Rana and Headley, told by probe findings and court documents in the US and India, gives a fascinating insight into their decades-old bond.
Together and apart
The two first met in Cadet College, Hasan Abdal, which is a military prep school in Pakistan.
From there, Rana went on join the Pakistan army as a doctor and served as a captain but eventually, he deserted the army. Then he became a Canadian citizen before heading to Chicago.
He opened several businesses including the Immigration Law Center, which had offices in Chicago, New York and Toronto, according to official documents.
Headley, on the other hand, got involved in heroin trade, bringing the narcotic into the US from Pakistan to earn quick money. He was arrested twice on the charges of smuggling heroin — in 1988 and 1997 — in the US and got convicted, too.
Friend in need
According to investigators, back in 1997, when Headley was arrested in the US for smuggling heroin into the country, Rana offered his house as collateral for Headley's bail application. Rana kept aside money for Headley as well and sent it to him whenever his friend needed it.
Subsequently, their lives sent them on different paths but this duo later came together to participate in one of the worst terror attacks the world has seen.
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“He (Headley) received a four-year sentence for the first conviction and a 15-month sentence for the second conviction. In both instances, he received leniency for cooperating with investigators,” said the probe documents.
It was during the second conviction that Rana posted his bail bond keeping his house as collateral.
Ideal front
After penetrating the LeT following the 9/11 attacks in the US at the behest of agencies there, Headley attended many Laskhar training camps in Pakistan. Lashkar operatives wanted him to travel to Mumbai for the surveillance of targets. Here, Rana came to Headley’s aid once again.
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One of the court documents said Headley had told Lashkar about his friendship with Rana and how the latter owned and operated the Immigration Law Center.
“Headley and his contacts agreed that Rana's business would be an ideal front for their activities because it would allow Headley to travel freely in and out of India and to establish connections with powerful individuals in India,” read a court document.
Lure for Rana
But what was Rana’s motivation to offer help to Headley, who was clearly mixed up with dangerous people? After all, Rana had also left Pakistan long ago and was settled in the US with a Canadian passport.
Investigators told the court that Headley lured Rana by assuring him that his contacts in Pakistan could help with his status as a deserter of the Pakistani army. “After hearing Headley's explanation, Rana agreed to open a Mumbai Branch office of his business to assist Headley,” read the court document.
Rana helped Headley secure a business visa for India as the 'Regional Manager' of the Mumbai office of the Immigration Law Center. Headley’s responsibilities were listed as supervising and coordinating the company's operations in Asia.
Further down the road
Though Rana knew that Headley had provided wrong information about himself on the visa application he didn’t correct it. He even deceived his business partner — the immigration attorney at Immigration Law Center — into approving the forms.
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Through his unsuspecting business partner, Rana also helped Headley complete an application with the Reserve Bank of India to open the Mumbai branch office of Immigration Law Center. The application stated that Headley would serve as the Immigration Law Center's 'South Asian Regional Director' and 'Office Head'.
The central bank ultimately rejected the application.
Aiding and abetting
These charges of forgery and cheating are important in the Indian context. Rana was never tried on these charges in the US, so Indian courts can take them up without hindrance from the concept of 'double jeopardy', which means no person can be tried twice for the same charges.
Court documents show that when Headley travelled to Mumbai in September 2006 and conducted many hours of video surveillance, including the recordings of the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, he was received in Mumbai by an individual close to Rana. This individual later told investigators that on Rana's “telephonic request”, he arranged accommodation and other logistics for Headley.
In 2007, when Headley's Indian visa expired, Rana again him obtain a new visa by processing the forms through the Immigration Law Center.
“As a result of Rana's assistance, Headley secured a five-year multi-entry visa from Indian authorities on July 18, 2007,” stated a court document.
Dubai meeting
In 2008, Headley learnt that Rana was planning to visit China, Dubai and India. “Therefore, Headley arranged for Rana to meet a co-conspirator in Dubai, where, at Headley's request, the co-conspirator advised Rana not to go to India because the attacks were imminent,” investigators told a US court.
The Dubai meeting came to light after the Mumbai attacks, when the FBI mounted surveillance on Rana and Headley. On September 7, 2009, Rana and Headley discussed the Dubai meeting in their long conversation that was recorded by the FBI. Hence, Rana had prior knowledge of the Mumbai attacks.
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In that telephonic conversation, Rana told Headley that the nine Lashkar terrorists who had been killed in the Mumbai attacks 'should be given Nishan-e-Haider’, which is Pakistan's highest military honour. Rana also asked Headley to tell one of the co-conspirators responsible for planning the Mumbai attacks that he should get ‘a medal for top class’, said the court document.
Sacrificial lamb
After his arrest in the US by the FBI, Rana's trial started on May 23, 2011, in which Headley testified as the main prosecution witness.
Indian investigators said Headley sacrificed Rana to save himself. But the jury acquitted Rana of the charge of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism in India. But it convicted him on the charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism in Denmark and to Lashkar.
Court documents showed that the jury was presented with two very different pictures of Rana – “the man who knowingly supported his lifelong friend as Headley travelled the world plotting and preparing for terrorist attacks, and the ambitious businessman manipulated by a friend into unwittingly providing cover for terrorist plots.”
Reduced sentence
Finally, the jury didn’t find enough material to convict Rana on the charge of being part of the conspiracy involving terror attacks on India. On January 17, 2013, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
But interestingly, Rana, who went to the US Supreme Court to stall his extradition to India, did not appeal his conviction or sentence.
On June 9, 2020, a US judge found that Rana qualified for compassionate release, reduced his sentence to time served and ordered his immediate release. But he was eventually arrested on an extradition request from India and is in the US prison since then.
Late lessons
Immediately after his arrest in the US, Headley lied to investigators, which was an effort to “shield the people he cared about — his wife, his uncle, his brother, and his best friend Rana — from the consequences of his actions”.
But, later on, he implicated Rana alone after learning that his friend too had been arrested.
It appears that Headley realised that he could not save Rana now by lying and decided to sacrifice him to cut his own deal with prosecutors. This would save him from being sent to India or being awarded a death sentence.
