Mumbai terror accused Rana loses last legal battle in US, apex court clears extradition to India
Washington, Jan 25 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has cleared Mumbai attack convict Tahawwur Rana's extradition to India, dismissing his review petition against the move.
India is seeking the extradition of Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, as he is wanted in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks case.
This was Rana’s last legal chance not to be extradited to India. Earlier, he lost a legal battle in several federal courts, including the US Court of Appeals for the North Circuit in San Francisco.
Rana on November 13 filed a “petition for a writ of certiorari” before the US Supreme Court. This was denied by the apex court on January 21, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the American President.
“Petition DENIED,” the Supreme Court said.
Rana, 64, is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.
Earlier the US government had argued in the court that the petition for a writ of certiorari should be denied. US Solicitor General Elizabeth B Prelogar said this in its filing before the Supreme Court on December 16.
She said Rana was not entitled to relief from extradition to India in this case.
In his ‘petitions for a writ of certiorari to review the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Rana had argued that he was tried and acquitted in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) on charges relating to the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai.
"India now seeks to extradite him for trial on charges based on the identical conduct at issue in the Chicago case,” it said.
“The government does not concede that all of the conduct on which India seeks extradition was covered by the government’s prosecution in this case. For example, India’s forgery charges are based in part on conduct that was not charged in the United States: petitioner’s use of false information in an application to formally open a branch office of the Immigration Law Center submitted to the Reserve Bank of India,” the US Solicitor General had said.
“It is not clear that the jury’s verdict in this case— which involves conspiracy charges and was somewhat difficult to parse — means that he has been “convicted or acquitted” on all of the specific conduct that India has charged,” Prelogar had said.
Rana is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations of Mumbai.
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Deaf and mute woman breaks 16-year silence, exposes serial sexual abuse, blackmail in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): A deaf and mute woman's complaint about a sexual assault that took place 16 years ago in Mumbai has unmasked a serial predator, revealing a disturbing pattern of abuse and blackmail he perpetrated on several women from the community.
The accused was arrested on December 13 after the survivor broke her silence recently following the suicide attempt by one of the women he allegedly sexually harassed.
Disturbed by the suicide attempt, she confided in her friends during a video call about the assault that occurred in 2009.
According to the police, the survivor, a resident of the western suburbs, communicated in sign language during a video call with her friends and colleagues, who were part of a WhatsApp group, that the accused had drugged and raped her when she was a minor.
She also took her husband into confidence, and with support from Thane Deaf Association president Vaibhav Ghaisis, activist Mohammed Farhan Khan, sign language interpreter Madhu Keni, and a retired officer from the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities Divyangjan, the survivor approached the police.
The survivor, her husband and a few of her friends went to the Kurar police station, where her statement was recorded in camera, with Keni as interpreter, and the accused, Mahesh Pawar, was arrested a few hours later from Virar, a suburb in Palghar district.
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Recalling the trauma she endured 16 years ago, the survivor said that a female friend had invited her to explore the city in July 2009 and took her to Pawar's home in Vakola, Santacruz, an official said.
The accused allegedly offered her samosas and some beverage to celebrate the female friend's birthday. The survivor said she was forced to have the drink, which Pawar had allegedly spiked, and after a while, her friend left her alone with him.
The accused allegedly overpowered and raped her, and later blackmailed her with the recorded video of the assault.
The trauma of assault stayed with her over the years, and the attempted suicide of another woman from the community, allegedly assaulted by Pawar, propelled her to come forward.
A probe has revealed that the accused had similarly drugged and assaulted speech and hearing impaired women and threatened them into silence by blackmailing them with obscene videos, a senior police officer said.
The accused allegedly shot obscene videos of several women, using which he blackmailed them and extorted money, gold and mobile phones, he said.
He allegedly forced women into participating in nude video calls with him and recorded these to threaten them, the official said.
"As per initial investigation so far, we have evidence of his abuse of seven women, but the number can increase to more than 24," the official told PTI.
While Pawar has been remanded in judicial custody, no other woman has come forward with a complaint against him as yet, he said.
Talking to PTI, Keni said all women who have survived abuse and harassment by Pawar want to lodge a complaint against him.
She claimed that the accused had extorted money from one of the women he abused, but did not return the sum even when she needed it for a medical emergency.
