NIA team reaches US to get custody of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana

The three-member NIA team, led by Inspector General-rank officer Ashish Batra, includes Deputy Inspector General-rank officer Jaya Roy and a deputy superintendent of police-rank officer. The officials left for the US on Sunday after getting confirmation of the ‘surrender warrant’ — it requires a fugitive criminal to be surrendered to a foreign state – said sources.

According to sources, once Rana is extradited, the NIA is expected to question him at its headquarters in Delhi, where security will be stepped up. His case is being looked after by the NIA’s Delhi headquarters.

“There is no formal communication to the Tihar Jail administration, but they have also started a security assessment of his cell; they are likely to lodge him in a high-security ward. His cell will have CCTV cameras, with in-built bathroom facilities, and they will monitor his activities 24 × 7,” the source said.

Rana, 64, who is of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives.

Paving the way for his extradition, the US Supreme Court, on January 21, had rejected a review petition filed by Rana. It is learnt that after the US Supreme Court’s decision, an NIA team was initially called to the US in January-end, but officials there later sought more time to review all the documents.

“Senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs, along with officials of the home ministry and the NIA, were in constant touch with US officials. They were informed that the US state department was also coordinating with the secretary of state for issuing the ‘surrender warrant’ for Rana,” a source in the MHA said.