Tahawwur Rana news: Delhi court receives trial records of 26/11 attacks

A Delhi court has received the trial records of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks ahead of its alleged mastermind Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s arrival in India from the US, PTI quoted a court source. The records were received by the court of District Judge Vimal Kumar Yadav recently in pursuance of his January 28 direction to the staff of a Mumbai court to send the records.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has demanded the harshest punishment for 26/11 Mumbai attacks accused Tahawwur Rana, calling for his execution in a public square in Mumbai as a deterrent to those with malicious intentions towards India.

“After a long wait of 16 years, he is being extradited to India…He should be sentenced to death in a crowded square in Mumbai so that people who look at India with evil intentions will be left shaken,” Chaturvedi told ANI.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks co-conspirator, who is being brought to India in a special flight is expected to land at 12 noon on Thursday and is likely to be lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi. Deep Dive

Senior Advocate Majeed Memon on Thursday stressed the importance of conducting a “fair trial” just like it happened for Ajmal Kasab, who was given a death sentence for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. He said that it was an accomplishment for the country that a “disgusting” terrorist was handed over.

Senior Congress leader and former Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and the other opposition parties on Thursday welcomed the extradition of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks case accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana.

“It’s a good thing,” PTI quoted Shinde as saying in Ahmedabad, where he attended the AICC session. Shinde was the Union home minister in the Congress-led UPA government in 2012 when Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive from the Pakistani group that carried out the terror attack, was hanged to death in Pune’s Yerawada Jail.

Security has been stepped up outside Delhi’s Patiala House Court where Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana is likely to be produced on Thursday following his extradition from the US, an official told PTI.

Personnel from paramilitary forces and the Delhi Police have been deployed outside the court and a thorough physical frisking and checking of visitors is being carried out to avoid any untoward incident, he said.

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signed the surrender warrant authorizing Rana’s extradition to Indian authorities on February 11, ANI reported. Rana’s legal counsel subsequently filed an emergency stay motion seeking to challenge that order. On April 7, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Rana’s petition for a stay of his extradition.

Centre appoints advocate Narender Mann as the special public prosecutor for conducting trial and other matters related to 26/11 Mumbai attacks, in which Tahawwur Rana is being extradited from the U.S

According to a PTI report, Tahawwur Rana in his emergency application, sought a “stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13, 2025 petition for a writ of habeas corpus “asserting, inter alia, that his extradition to India violates United States law… implementing the terms of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture”.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana is likely to be lodged in a high-security ward in Delhi’s Tihar jail when he reaches India. Rana is likely to be produced before a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court at Patiala House in Delhi. Deep dive

Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, accused in the 26/11 terror attacks, is a “big success” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s diplomacy.

He also took a veiled dig at Congress, without taking its name, saying the “governments under whose rule the bomb blasts took place could not bring him back”.

Devika Natwarlal Rotawan, a victim of the Mumbai attacks, called Rana’s extradition the biggest victory against terrorism for India and expressed her gratitude to the Governments of India and United States.

“I am overjoyed that Tahawwur Rana is finally being brought back to India. This was the biggest victory against terrorism for India. So, I am very happy. I would like to thank the Governments of India and the US. The US Government supported the Government of India a lot,” Rotawan told ANI

Former diplomat KP Fabian noted that it took 17 years for the extradition of the Tahawwur Rana, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks accused, despite the Indian government providing credible evidence.

Fabian told ANI, “While we welcome the US decision, it’s important to note that the 26/11 attacks occurred in 2008, and it has taken 17 years for the extradition–despite India providing credible evidence early on. Had the roles been reversed, and an accused in the 9/11 attacks was in India, the US would not have waited this long. The American legal process is slow, and successive administrations could have acted more swiftly…”

Mumbai terror attack case accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who is being extradited from the US, is not in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the agency said.

According to information on the website of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Rana is “Not in BOP Custody” as of April 8, 2025.

An official at the agency told PTI Wednesday that Rana is not in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

Foreign Affairs Expert Robinder Sachdev on Tuesday termed the extradition of 26/11 Mumbai attacks accused Tahawwur Rana to India as a “positive development”, highlighting its significance for justice and India-US cooperation.

“It is a positive development – one for justice for those who died in those days and secondly for the cooperation between India and America,” Sachdev told ANI.

Mumbai ‘Chai Wala’ known as ‘Chhotu’ aka Mohammed Taufiq, whose alertness saved lives during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks stated that there is no need for India to provide Tahawwur Rana with cell and Biryani and facilities which were provided to Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists involved in Mumbai attacks.

“…For India, there is no need to provide him with a cell, Biryani and facilities like those given to Kasab. There should be a separate law for terrorists, a system should be in place so that they are hanged within 2-3 months,” Taufiq told ANI.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana is likely to be lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail, PTI reported. Necessary preparations have been made for lodging him in jail and the prison authorities will wait for the court order