Tahawwur Rana brought to India to face the law for 26/11

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was brought back to India on Thursday, ending a 16-year-long wait to prosecute one of the planners of the deadliest terror strike in India that killed 166 people and injured 238 others.

- Neeraj Chauhan

Officials from National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the National Security Guard escorted Rana to Delhi from the US.

Investigators will now question Rana in their attempt to zero in on his conspiracy with terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI), the role of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani army, and other conspirators behind the deadly strike that shook Mumbai and changed how India fought terror.

"The NIA on Thursday evening formally arrested Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the key conspirator in the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, immediately after his arrival at IGIA, New Delhi, following his successful extradition from the US," said the federal agency, which came into existence primarily because of 26/11 strikes.

Rana will be only the second person to stand trial in India for the deadly 2008 attacks, and the first time that Indian investigators have in custody a mastermind of the strikes that exposed the country's under-preparedness, triggered the complete overhaul of the security and intelligence apparatus, and led to the creation of NIA.

Rana was brought to India on a special aircraft, a Gulfstream G550, that first stopped in Dubai, before landing in Delhi at around 6pm. After that, he was formally arrested by NIA, administered a medical test, and then taken to the Patiala house court premises, where he appeared before special NIA judge Chanderjit Singh as the agency sought his custody for 20 days. The hearing was underway at the time of going to print.

Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and special public prosecutor Narender Mann represented NIA, and Piyush Sachdev and Lakshya Dheer from the Delhi Legal Services Authority represented Rana.