26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Tahawwur Rana successfully extradited, arrested: NIA
New Delhi, Apr 10 (PTI): Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was brought to India after being "successfully extradited" from the US and was formally arrested, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced on Thursday.
The 64-year-old Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin landed in Delhi in a special plane from Los Angeles Thursday evening, ending days of speculation of when and how he will be extradited, officials said.
In a statement late evening, the NIA said Rana was "formally arrested immediately after his arrival at Delhi airport".
Rana was escorted to Delhi by teams of NIA and National Security Guard (NSG), the agency said.
An NIA team at the airport arrested Rana soon after he emerged from the airplane, upon completion of all the necessary legal formalities, it said.
The agency in an earlier statement said that it had secured the successful extradition after years of sustained and concerted efforts to bring to justice the key conspirator and "mastermind of the deadly attack" that claimed 166 lives.
"With the active assistance of USDoJ, the US Sky Marshal, NIA worked closely with other Indian intelligence agencies, NSG through the entire extradition process, which also saw India's Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs coordinating with the other relevant authorities in the United States to take the matter to its successful conclusion," the statement read.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and special public prosecutor Narender Mann, who are representing the NIA, reached the Patiala House court premises shortly after news that Rana had landed in Delhi. Police officials asked mediapersons to leave and said they were ensuring the court premises were fully vacant. The lawyers, however, refused to comment.
Special NIA judge Chander Jit Singh is hearing the case against Rana. Advocate Piyush Sachdeva from Delhi Legal Services Authority is representing the accused.
Meanwhile, tight security has been ensured outside the NIA headquarters at the CGO complex here and the entire premises has been cordoned off by security personnel of Delhi Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Key roads outside and around the NIA office has been closed for any vehicular traffic. Entry and exit from gate no 2 of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium metro station, which is opposite the probe agency's office, has been barred.
The announcement that Rana would be finally extradited came when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US capital in February. "We are giving a very violent man back to India immediately to face justice in India," US President Donald Trump said at a joint press conference with Modi on February 14.
Trump said his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil people of the world" Rana "to face justice in India".
Rana was lodged in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles.
He was held in judicial custody in the US following proceedings initiated under the India-US Extradition Treaty for his extradition. The extradition finally came through after Rana exhausted all legal avenues to stay the move.
The District Court for the Central District of California had ordered his extradition on May 16, 2023. 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.
"The extradition proceedings were initiated between the two countries after India eventually secured a surrender warrant for the wanted terrorist from the US government," the NIA said.
Rana is accused of conspiring with David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, 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 the three-day terror siege of India's financial capital.
Both LeT and HUJI have been declared terrorist organisations by the Indian government under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Among the 166 killed were US, British and Israeli nationals. Besides, 238 were injured in the mayhem carried out by a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre after they sneaked into Mumbai through the Arabian Sea.
The terrorists had targeted multiple iconic locations in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, Leopold Cafe, Chabad House and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, each of which Headley had scouted in advance.
Rana would be the third person to be sent on trial in India in the case after Ajmal Kasab and Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal. In November 2012, Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist among the Pakistani group, was hanged to death in Yerawada Jail in Pune.
Rana had served in the Pakistan Army medical corps before emigrating to Canada in late 1990s and started his 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 reconnaissance mission in Mumbai so that the terrorists could launch the attacks.
The officials said Rana's extradition would help probe agencies expose the role of Pakistani state actors behind the 26/11 attacks and may shed new light on the investigation.
His extradition from the US could provide important leads into his travels in parts of northern and southern India days before the carnage in 2008, NIA officials said.
Rana 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, they said.
Rana had submitted business sponsor letters from 'Immigrant Law Center' and property Tax payment notice from the Cook County as his address proof.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US arrested Rana in Chicago a year after the attacks in October 2009 for providing support for an aborted plan to behead employees of a newspaper, in Copenhagen (Denmark) in retaliation for the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in it, and also for providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist outfit LeT, which orchestrated the Mumbai attacks.
However, Rana was acquitted of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terror attacks. He was, however, convicted in 2011 in the other case and sentenced to 14 years, the officials said.
India has been trying to extradite Rana for many years because of his association with LeT and HUJI, Headley and for his active involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
It is alleged that Rana was aware of Headley's terror links and even helped in reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and planning the attacks on the National Defence College (NDC) in New Delhi and Chabad House in Mumbai.
The NIA had registered a case on November 11, 2009 under sections 121A of Indian Penal Code, Section 18 of UAPA and Section 6(2) SAARC Convention (Suppression of Terrorism) Act against Headley, Rana and others for being part of a criminal conspiracy with LeT and HUJI members to commit terrorist acts in New Delhi and other places in India.
During the NIA investigation, the roles of senior functionaries of banned terror groups LeT and HUJI -- Hafiz Muhammad Saeed alias Tayyaji, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Sajjid Majid alias Wasi, Illyas Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Major Abdurrehman alias Pasha have emerged.
They were working in active connivance and assistance from Pakistan spy agency ISI's officers namely Major Iqbal alias Major Ali, Major Sameer Ali alias Major Samir, all residents of Pakistan, the officials said.
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UK Professor Nitasha Kaul's Overseas Citizenship of India cancelled
Academician decries move as "transnational repression"
London/New Delhi: Professor Nitasha Kaul, a London-based academic, announced on May 18, 2025, via a social media post that her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card has been cancelled by the Indian government. She described the move as a "bad faith, vindictive, cruel example of transnational repression" intended to punish her for her scholarly work critical of the Modi government's policies concerning minorities and democracy.
The cancellation follows an incident in February 2024 when Professor Kaul, who holds a British passport and held an OCI card, was denied entry into India upon arrival at Bengaluru airport. She had been invited by the then Congress-led Karnataka state government to speak at a conference on "The Constitution and Unity in India."
According to an image of the letter shared by Professor Kaul, the Indian government stated that it had been "brought to the notice of the Government of India that you have been found indulging in anti-India activities, motivated by malice and complete disregard for facts or history." The letter further accused her of regularly targeting India and its institutions on matters of India's sovereignty through "numerous inimical writings, speeches and journalistic activities at various international forums and on social media platforms."
Professor Kaul, who is a Professor of Politics, International Relations, and Critical Interdisciplinary Studies and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at the University of Westminster, London, vehemently rejects these accusations. She stated she had provided a 20,000-word response to what she termed the government's "ridiculous inanity about ‘anti-India’," but the OCI was cancelled through a "rigged process."
In her social media posts, Professor Kaul lamented the decision, questioning how the "mother of democracy" could deny her access to her mother in India. She characterized the action as stemming from "thin-skinned, petty insecurity with no respect for well-intentioned dissent."
The February 2024 denial of entry had already sparked controversy. At the time, immigration officials reportedly cited "orders from Delhi" without providing formal reasons, though Professor Kaul mentioned informal references to her past criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Ministry of External Affairs had then responded by stating that the entry of foreign nationals into India is a "sovereign decision." Unofficial government sources had indicated that a "preventive lookout circular" was issued against her due to her alleged "pro-separatist" and "anti-India" stance on Kashmir.
The BJP in Karnataka had criticised the state government for inviting her, labelling her an "anti-India element." Conversely, the then-Karnataka government and various international human rights organizations and academic bodies had condemned the denial of entry.
Professor Kaul has been an outspoken commentator on Indian politics, including the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and has testified before international bodies such as the US Congress on human rights in the region. She maintains her work is academic and pro-democracy, not anti-India.
The cancellation of her OCI card effectively bars her from entering India, a country to which she has personal and academic ties. This incident adds to a growing list of academics, journalists, and activists of Indian origin whose OCI status has been revoked or who have been denied entry to India in recent years, raising concerns about freedom of speech and dissent. Reports indicate that over 100 OCI cards were cancelled by the Indian government between 2014 and May 2023. Furthermore, in 2021, new rules were introduced requiring OCI cardholders to obtain special permission for activities such as research and journalism.
