Court sends Mumbai attacks mastermind to 18-day custody
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency has said accused Tahawwur Rana planned several other plots similar to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to target multiple Indian cities.
“His (Rana) prolonged custody has been deemed necessary to facilitate an extensive interrogation aimed at uncovering deeper layers of the conspiracy. We suspect that the tactics used in the Mumbai attacks were intended for execution in other cities as well, prompting investigators to examine whether similar plots were developed elsewhere,” the NIA is believed to have informed the judge, a source said.
Rana was brought to the court in a cavalcade including a jail van, an armoured SWAT vehicle and an ambulance.
Before Rana was brought to Patiala House Court complex, Delhi Police removed mediapersons and members of the public from its premises, citing security concerns.
Police authorities said, “No one would be permitted inside”.
A Delhi court recently received the trial records of the Mumbai attacks ahead of Rana’s extradition from the US, a source said.
The NIA said that as part of the criminal conspiracy, accused number 1, David Coleman Headley, had discussed the entire operation with Rana before his visit to India.
Anticipating potential challenges, Headley sent an email to Rana detailing his belongings and assets, the NIA told the court, and Headley also informed Rana about the involvement of Pakistani nationals Ilyas Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, who are also accused in the case, in the plot.
The NIA made the submissions late Thursday before special judge Chander Jit Singh, who remanded Rana to 18-day NIA custody.
In its order, the judge directed the NIA to conduct medical examination of Rana every 24 hours, and allow him to meet his lawyer every alternate day.
The judge allowed Rana to use only a “soft-tip pen” and meet his lawyer in the presence of the NIA officials, who would be out of an audible distance.
During the arguments, the NIA said Rana’s custody was required to piece together the full scope of the conspiracy, and submitted he was required to be taken to various locations for retracing the events that took place 17 years ago.
The agency said it needed to investigate Rana’s links with other terrorists and those accused in the case.
“Detailed investigation is required. He has to be confronted with a lot of evidences. His statements would lead to additional discoveries,” the NIA told the court.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and Special Public Prosecutor Narender Mann represented the NIA.
To piece together crucial evidence and retrace events from 17 years ago, officials might transport Rana to key locations, allowing them to reconstruct the crime scene and gain deeper insight into the larger terror network at play, the source added.
The NIA DIGs, one IG and five DCPs of Delhi Police were present in the court premises during his production.
Rana will remain in NIA custody for 18 days, during which time the agency plans to “question him in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks” which saw 166 persons being killed and over 238 sustaining wounds.
The 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman was produced before special NIA judge Chander Jit Singh.
Rana, a close associate of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks main conspirator David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen, was brought to India after the US Supreme Court on April 4 dismissed his review plea against his extradition.
On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went on a rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, after they sneaked into India’s financial capital using the sea route in the Arabian Sea.
As many as 166 people were killed in the nearly 60-hour assault.
