Rana extradited to India for 2008 Mumbai attack involvement

11/4/2025 6:22

A Pakistani-born

Canadian businessman accused of helping orchestrate the 2008

attacks in Mumbai, one of India's deadliest, arrived in New

Delhi on Thursday after the U.S. extradited him in the first

such transfer in a terrorism case.



Tahawwur Rana, 64, a doctor-turned-businessman, was

extradited in connection with the attacks that killed more than

160 people.



"The National Investigation Agency on Thursday successfully

secured the extradition ... after years of sustained and

concerted efforts to bring the key conspirator ... to justice,"

NIA, India's anti-terror agency, said in a statement.



He was accompanied back by Indian security agencies after

his petitions challenging the extradition were rejected by the

U.S. Supreme Court.



Rana's extradition is a "great success" of the diplomacy of

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, Indian Home Minister

Amit Shah said on Wednesday.



"It is the responsibility of the Indian government to bring

back all those who have abused the land and people of India," he

posted on X.







TRUMP ANNOUNCED TRANSFER



India formally sought Rana's custody in June 2020, and

President Donald Trump announced Rana's transfer in February

this year during a joint press conference with Modi in

Washington.



"The United States has long supported India's efforts to

ensure those responsible for these attacks are brought to

justice," U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told

reporters in Washington. "He (Rana) is in their possession and

we're very proud of that dynamic."



Rana was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the U.S. in 2013

for providing support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani Islamist

group that India says was responsible for the 2008 attacks.



"As far as our record indicates, he (Rana) did not even

apply for renewal for his Pakistani-origin documents for the

last two decades," Shafqat Ali Khan, a spokesperson for

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, said at a media briefing on

Thursday.



Rana's lawyer has said that Rana was a "good man and got

sucked into something."



Over the course of three days in November 2008, 10 heavily

armed attackers targeted major landmarks across Mumbai,

including two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and the main train

station, killing 166 people.



India has said Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba, which the U.S.

State Department has designated a terrorist organisation,

orchestrated the attacks. Pakistan denies supporting extremist

activities.



Rana was also found guilty in June 2011 of conspiring to

attack a Danish newspaper, a plot hatched by the militant group

that was never carried out.