US Supreme Court Clears Extradition Of Mumbai Attack Convict Tahawwur Rana To India
Washington, 25th January 2025: The US Supreme Court has approved the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian convict in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, to India. The apex court dismissed his review petition against extradition, marking the final legal hurdle in India’s prolonged efforts to bring him to justice.
Rana, a 63-year-old businessman of Pakistani origin, has been in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. His petition for certiorari, filed on 13th November, was rejected on 21st January, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as US President. With this decision, the court reaffirmed the legal validity of the extradition request under the India-US extradition treaty.
Rana was arrested by the FBI in Chicago in 2009 for his role in aiding terrorist David Coleman Headley, a mastermind of the Mumbai attacks. Headley, along with Rana and the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, orchestrated the 26/11 attacks that claimed the lives of 166 people, including six American citizens.
Born in Pakistan and later becoming a Canadian citizen, Rana had worked as a doctor in the Pakistan Army for a decade before moving to Canada. His alleged involvement with Lashkar-e-Taiba saw him collaborating with Headley in plotting the attacks.
India has been seeking his extradition for years to hold him accountable for his role in the terror attacks that devastated Mumbai on 26th November 2008. The attack, carried out by 10 Pakistani terrorists, targeted multiple iconic locations in the city, leaving a scar on the nation’s financial capital.
