India: Tiny Gain For 26/11 Justice – Analysis

By Sanchita Bhattacharya

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on April 10, 2025, successfully secured the extradition of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the mastermind of the November 26, 2008 (26/11) Mumbai terror attacks, after years of continued and intensive efforts.

26/11 was a defining event because of the enormity of the attack. 166 people including civilians and Police/Security Forces personnel, were killed in the violent terrorist attacks. Five Americans were among the 26 foreigners killed. Soon after the attack, India had conveyed to Pakistan that Hafiz Muhammed Saeed, the founding chief of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), was the main architect of the attack and, in subsequent dossiers, gave the full details of the attack, as well as the identities of the other perpetrators and conspirators, all of whom were acting under Saeed’s instructions. Subsequently, the NIA, in its charge sheet dated December 24, 2011, listed 11 Pakistanis as the accused in the case: Hafiz Muhammed Saeed; Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, ‘operations commander’ of LeT; Sajid Majid and Abdur Rehman Hashim, both Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Majors (retired); Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali, both serving ISI Majors; Ilyas Kashmiri, al Qaeda’s main ‘operational commander’ and ‘chief’ of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), Pakistani American David Coleman Headley aka Daood Sayed Gilani, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana. 

NIA registered a case on November 11, 2009 under section 121 A of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 18 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act-UAPA and Section 6(2) SAARC Convention (Suppression of Terrorism) Act against Rana, Headley and others. Later, after completion of its investigation, NIA filed charge sheet on December 24, 2011 against all the accused under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), read with 121 (waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India), 121A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable by section 121), 302 (punishment for murder), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of IPC and sections 16 (punishment for terrorist act),18 (punishment for conspiracy, etc) & 20 (punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation) of UAPA. 

In a parallel trial that started in the Chicago (USA) District Court on May 23, 2011, Headley testified, on May 25, 2011, that he had conversations with Tahawwur Rana, who was accused of helping the 26/11 attackers and providing support to LeT and a retired Pakistan military officer Abdur Rehman, known as ‘Pasha’. Headley confirmed that the ISI Directorate and elements in Pakistan’s Army coordinated with LeT and other Pakistani terrorists. Headley also admitted to carrying out extensive reconnaissance in India, including extended surveillance in Mumbai, which contributed to the planning of 26/11. According to his disclosures during interrogation, Headley travelled to Mumbai in September 2006, February 2007, September 2007, April 2008 and July 2008, for the purpose of conducting surveillance of possible targets of attacks by LeT. 

Rana provided his immigration agency as a front to Headley and opened a branch in Tardeo in Mumbai. Using this front, Headley travelled to Mumbai between 2006 and 2008. Rana also visited Hapur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh; Delhi; Kochi in Kerala; Ahmedabad in Gujarat; and Mumbai in Maharashtra, with his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar, between November 13 and November 21, 2008. His initial planning included the attack on Chabad Houses located in various cities. As reported on January 26, according to NIA, “Evidence was also produced that Rana told Headley that the terrorists involved in Mumbai attacks should receive Pakistan’s highest military honours posthumously…”

Headley was arrested on October 3, 2009, at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago by US authorities. He later pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in March, 2010 and cooperated with investigators, offering detailed insights into LeT operations and Pakistan’s role in 26/11 attacks. On January 24, 2013, Headley was sentenced to 35 years in prison for federal crimes relating to his role in planning the 26/11 attacks and a subsequent, ultimately foiled, plot to attack the offices of the Jyllands-Posten daily newspaper in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US arrested Rana in Chicago on October 18, 2009, for providing support for an aborted plan to attack a newspaper in Copenhagen (Denmark) and providing material support to LeT. Rana was convicted in June 9, 2011 in the Copenhagen case for providing material support in the terror plot, and also providing material support to LeT with regard to the Copenhagen case and sentenced to 14 years. Gary S. Shapiro, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois stated, 

This serious prison sentence should go a long way towards convincing would-be terrorists that they can’t hide behind the scenes, lend support to the violent aims of terrorist organizations, and escape detection and punishment…

However, Rana was acquitted of the conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terror attacks. A day later, on June 10, 2011, India’s Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA), expressed disappointment over Rana’s acquittal on the count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terrorist attacks. The UMHA statement noted:

Government has taken note of the verdict announced by a US District Court in the Tahawwur Hussain Rana case following the finding by the jury that Rana was guilty on two of three counts. Rana has been found guilty on one count of ‘conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorism plot in Denmark’ and on one count of ‘providing material support to the Lashkar e Tayyiba (LeT)’. The jury acquitted Rana of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terror attacks. It may be recalled that evidence was produced in the US court that David Headley had advised Rana of his assignment to scout potential targets in India… We are, therefore, disappointed that Rana was acquitted on the count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terrorist attacks… 

Rana was being held in judicial custody in the US pursuant to proceedings initiated under the India-US Extradition Treaty for his extradition. In 2020, India formally requested his extraction. The extradition finally came through after Rana exhausted all legal avenues to stay the move. On May 16, 2023, the District Court for the Central District of California ordered his extradition. Rana then filed multiple litigations in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, all of which were rejected. He subsequently filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, two habeas petitions, and an emergency application before the US Supreme Court, which were also denied. 

According to NIA, as reported on April 10, 2025, the extradition proceedings were initiated between the two countries after India eventually secured a surrender warrant for Rana from the US government. Rana is accused of conspiring with David Headley and terrorists of LeT and HuJI, along with other Pakistan-based co-conspirators, to carry out the 26/11 attacks. 

Rana, 64, a Pakistan-born Canadian national, was born in Chichawatni city in Sahiwal District of Punjab, Pakistan. After pursuing his studies in medicine from a college in Pakistan, he worked in the Pakistan Army’s Medical Corps. He served in the Pakistan Army for a few years and retired as a Major in 1997. Rana migrated to Canada after leaving the Pakistani Army and later secured Canadian citizenship. He started his own business as an immigration services provider through his ‘First World Immigration Services’ venture. Rana then moved to the US and set up office in Chicago. Headley was Rana’s childhood friend from a military boarding school, Hasan Abdal Cadet College in Attock. Headley was born in the US to Sayed Salim Gilani, a prominent Pakistani diplomat and broadcaster, and his American wife, Alice Serrill Headley. Sometime after his birth, Headley’s family moved to Pakistan.

Rana’s extradition to India, is a significant event in the trajectory of securing justice for the victims of 26/11. Though, Ajmal Kasab, the only one among the group of attackers taken alive, was hanged on November 21, 2012, at Yerawada Prison, with most of the co-conspirators and terrorists remaining under Pakistan’s patronage and protection, and Headley still in the US, the journey to any satisfactory resolution remains long and arduous.

• Sanchita Bhattacharya
  Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management