Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 25 (ANI): After the United States Supreme Court denied the petition of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, convicted for his role in the Mumbai terror attacks, paving the way for his extradition to India, Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani termed it a “big diplomatic victory” and said it is a significant feather in India’s cap.
Speaking to ANI, Jethmalani, also a Rajya Sabha MP, said that there is enough evidence against Hussain in the case.
“Big diplomatic victory. He has been, from the trial court up way to the Court of Appeals, fighting this case and now finally his last appeal to the Supreme Court at every stage his appeal against extradition has been dismissed. So, the fact that we have won at every stage is a big feather in India’s cap. You have to praise those who are responsible for the legal team and of course, the US lawyers who argued the matter – who were lawyers of the government of the USA,” he said.
“There is enough evidence against him. I think even David Coleman Headley who was deposed from the US on video conference has implicated him. He was supposedly closely linked with David Coleman Headley and what he did – his role was basically one of financer…He used false papers to set up an immigration service company in India to get visas and so on…There are many cases of forgery against him. He has played a very notorious role in Headley’s recce. So, these are serious financing terrorist activities,” Jethmalani added.
The defence lawyer in the 26/11 trial, Ejaz Naqvi, also spoke to ANI over the matter and said that the charge sheet for Tahawwur mentions that he was involved in providing financial, covert, and Pakistani support to David Coleman Headley.
“He had deployed covert projects in Canada and used to transfer money from his business dealings related to poultry and livestock in the US. During the court proceedings in Mumbai, Headley had revealed that whatever money he used to get, it was mostly from Tahawwur’s companies. The friendship between Tahawwur and Headley is not new. They were both in the same class at the National Defence Academy in Pakistan,” Naqvi said.
He also mentioned that the 26/11 case was an off-shore conspiracy.
“The Mumbai police and government of that time should have looked into this, yet knowingly or unknowingly they avoided it. From 2008 to 2010, the government and public prosecutors were hesitant to even take the name of Headley. The money that Janjua had transferred from Brescia or Italy to buy Walkie talkies, that money was also given by Tahawwur. The agencies are not making that link. When the FBI made the link to Headley, even then our agencies did not submit all the evidence. For the first time, we will see these things come out. People like Kasab were puppets… We had stated in Justice ML Tahaliyani’s court that Headley had named Tahawwur and Janjua and said that logistic support like purchasing electronic devices was done off-shore,” the defence lawyer added.
Pakistani-origin businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who was convicted for his role in the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, which resulted in the death of 164 people, could now be extradited to India. Rana’s co-conspirators included, among others, David Headley, who pleaded guilty and cooperated against Rana.
On January 21, The US Supreme Court denied a petition of writ of certiorari filed by Rana seeking to prevent his extradition to India. The writ was filed in November 2024 against an earlier order of a lower court that had ruled in favour of his extradition to India. A writ of certiorari is a legal document that allows a higher court to review a case from a lower court.
India’s charges consist of conspiracy to commit various offences, including to wage war, to murder, to commit two forms of forgery, and to commit a terrorist act. Rana has remained in custody throughout the extradition process. (ANI)
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