Mumbai attacks mastermind Tahawwur Hussain Rana will be questioned in detail by the National Investigation Agency to unravel the conspiracy behind the deadly 26/11 terror strike and his role as a planner of the attacks after a court New Delhi granted the agency his 18-day custody early Friday.
The anti-terror agency had produced Rana before the NIA Special Court at Patiala House after formally placing him under arrest on his arrival in New Delhi on Thursday evening, following his extradition from the United States.
Special NIA judge Chander Jit Singh sent Rana to 18-day custody while the NIA sought 20-day custody.
Rana was brought to the Patiala House Court in a cavalcade, including a jail van, an armoured SWAT vehicle and an ambulance, late Thursday night.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and Special Public Prosecutor Narender Mann represented the NIA.
Before the proceedings, the judge asked Rana if he had a lawyer.
After Rana said he did not have a lawyer, the judge informed him that a counsel was being provided to him from the Delhi Legal Services Authority.
After that, advocate Piyush Sachdeva was appointed to represent him.
The 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman, a close associate of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks main conspirator David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen, was brought to India after the US Supreme Court on April 4 dismissed his review plea against his extradition.
The agency told the court that Rana's interrogation was necessary to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the 2008 attacks. It also told the court that it had to look into his role as a planner of the attacks.
Before Rana was brought to the Patiala House Court, Delhi Police removed mediapersons and members of the public from the complex, citing security concerns.
Police authorities said, "No one would be permitted inside."
After the court order, Rana was transported to the NIA headquarters in a heavily-secured motorcade comprising Delhi Police's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and other security personnel.
Rana will be kept in a highly secured cell inside the anti-terror agency's head office at CGO complex in New Delhi, officials said.
"Rana will remain in NIA custody for 18 days, during which time the agency will question him in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks, in which a total of 166 persons were killed and over 238 injured," a statement issued by the probe agency said soon after the court's order.
The NIA said that as part of the criminal conspiracy, accused no. 1, Headley, had discussed the entire operation with Rana before his visit to India.
Anticipating potential challenges, Headley sent an email to Rana detailing his belongings and assets, the NIA told the court, adding that Headley also informed Rana about the involvement of Pakistani nationals Ilyas Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, who are also accused in the case, in the plot.
The NIA had secured Rana's extradition from the US following years of sustained efforts, and after the terror mastermind's last-ditch efforts to get a stay on his extradition from the US failed.
The extradition finally came through after Rana's various litigations and appeals, including an emergency application before the US Supreme Court, were rejected.
With the coordinated efforts of India's Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs, along with the relevant authorities in the United States, the surrender warrant for the wanted terrorist was eventually secured and the extradition was carried out, the statement said.
Rana is accused of conspiring with Headley and operatives of designated terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) along with other Pakistan-based co-conspirators, to carry out the three-day terror siege of India's financial capital.
On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went on a rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, after they sneaked into India's financial capital using the sea route in the Arabian Sea.
A Mumbai police official familiar with the probe has said that Rana had served in the Pakistan Army medical corps before emigrating to Canada in the late 1990s and started an immigration consultancy firm. He later moved to the US and set up an office in Chicago.
Through his firm, Rana gave cover to Headley to carry out a reconnaissance mission in Mumbai prior to the November 2008 attacks and helped him get a ten-year visa extension, the police official said on Thursday.
During his stay in India, Headley used the front of running an immigration business and was in regular contact with Rana.
There were more than 230 phone calls between the two during this period, the official said.
Rana was also in touch with 'Major Iqbal', another co-conspirator of the attacks during this period, as per the NIA charge sheet.
Rana himself visited India in November 2008, days before the terror attack.
As per the charge sheet filed by Mumbai police against Rana in 2023 in the 26/11 attack case, he lived in a hotel in Powai and had a discussion about crowded places in South Mumbai with a person who has been listed as a witness in the case.
Subsequently, some of these places were targeted by the Pakistani terrorists during the deadly attacks that claimed 166 lives.
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