India on Friday said it is working with American authorities for the early extradition of Tahawwur Rana, wanted by Indian probe agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
The extradition of Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, was cleared by the US Supreme Court a few days ago as it rejected his review petition in the case. “The US Supreme Court on January 21 declined to hear a petition from the accused. We are now working with the US side on procedural issues for early extradition to India of the accused in the Mumbai terror attack,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
He was replying to a question at his weekly media briefing.
Rana, currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles, is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks.On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went into 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.
As many as 166 people were killed in the nearly 60-hour assault that sent shockwaves across the country and even brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a war.
In November 2012, Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman among the Pakistani group, was hanged to death in Yerawada Jail in Pune.
India has been pressing Pakistan to punish those involved in the dastardly attack but the trial of the accused in the attack made little headway so far.
