New Delhi: Tahawwur Hussain Rana was extradited to India the day after one of the key accomplices of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks, and the National Bureau of Investigation began an interrogation on Friday to reveal his role in the deadly conspiracy and to gather critical intelligence on a wider terrorist network. Nia Sleuths starts grilling Rana with co-conspirators David Coleman Headley and Abu Jundal. Meanwhile, security around the NIA office has been strengthened as Rana is currently in custody there. Delhi police and CRPF personnel are guarding the periphery of NIA headquarters.
Rana’s confrontation with Jundal, the only other 26/11 mapper in Indian detention is crucial to uncover a wider plot and fill critical gaps to help security agencies connect missing points. Lana will also be taken to multiple locations to help trace the 2008 terrorist attacks.
Eight other agencies, including military intelligence and Mumbai police, will also interrogate Rana, sources show. Investigators will also explore Lana’s funding sources, his connection to active and dormant sleeper cells, and the identity of his colleagues involved in the network.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said his government will provide all possible help to the state of Nya. “The Mumbai police will extend all cooperation to the NIA and if we need any updates to the investigation, we will seek it from the NIA. The NIA will decide where to take him.”
After receiving 18-day custody of Rana from Patiala House Court earlier Friday, he was taken to a highly secured 14×14 cell at the NIA headquarters in CGO Complex, a team of investigators led by Deputy Inspector General Jaya Roy, who is also the chief investigator, who was the chief investigator, asked for his inquiries for hours.
Given the sensitive nature of the investigation, strict precautions have been taken, including 24/7 surveillance, to eliminate the possibility of any self-harm. The interrogation revolves around Rana’s connection with the Pakistan Army-ISI group and their terror agent Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, the challenge curates the deadliest terrorist attack on Indian land to the country’s financial hub.
“Lana will remain in NIA detention until April 28, when the agency will inquire in detail to uncover the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attack, with a total of 166 people killed and more than 238 injured,” the NIA said in a statement issued on Friday night. The agency remanded Lana in custody minutes after being extradited from the United States to India on Thursday night.
In the order to remand, the judge directed the NIA to conduct medical examinations on RANA every 24 hours and asked him to replace his lawyer who met with him every day. The judge allowed Rana to use only “soft tip pen” and meet with his attorney in the presence of NIA officials, who would not be at the auditory distance.
During the debate, the NIA said Rana’s custody was asked to piece together the full scope of the conspiracy.
In the first round of integration, NIA detectives focused on key issues regarding Rana’s exact role in the 26/11 attack on November 26, 2008 and his whereabouts. He also questioned the intentions behind specific locations he visited during this period.
Rana holds a one-year Indian business visa and his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar holds a five-year Indian tourist visa. He allegedly identified his target in Mumbai during his trip to India and helped plan the attacks on the New Delhi National Defense Academy and Chabad House in Mumbai.
In addition to Delhi and Mumbai, Rana and his wife, traveled extensively to Hapur (Uttar Pradesh), Agra, Kochi and Kochi and Ahmedabad between November 13 and November 21, 2008. He also passed the sensitive GPS coordinates of the target determined by Headley. Rana also plans to target Kumbh Mela in Haridwar and conduct reconnaissance in Pushkar Mela in Rajasthan.
Once the initial trial and confrontation with available evidence is completed, Nia Sleuths will take him to the above-mentioned city to rebuild the terror plot.
Sources said the 64-year-old Pakistani-Origin Canadian businessman, a close assistant to Hydeley (a U.S. citizen), was also questioned for his questioning contact with officials in the inter-spy service intelligence of Pakistani spy agencies and their exact role.
Lana was charged with many crimes, including conspiracy, murder, commissioning of terrorist acts and forgery. It can be recalled that although Headley re-determines Mumbai’s target before the serial attack, Jandal (currently sent to the Mumbai prison) directed a 10-member Pakistani terrorist group to plan hits on various Mumbai facilities to create chaos.
Headley pleaded guilty to 12 counts of terrorism charges in 2010 and worked with U.S. authorities to testify at the trial of Rana, during which he detailed how a former Pakistan Army doctor promoted his surveillance mission in India and worked in India under the guise of expanding First World immigration services, former Rana owned.
The evidence these agencies have shown that Lana intentionally promoted Headley’s business, sanctioned a front in Mumbai, assisted with the document and visa process, and supported Headley’s secret journey to Denmark.
Sayyed Zabiuddin Ansari, alias Abu Jundal, a Wright (Abu Jundal), trained a team of Pakistani terrorists who hit 10 members of Mumbai by 10 people, who had trained Let Ultras in Hindi and directed their orders and Miri Mir in Mir and saj insi Mir and Isi Mirs and Isi Mirs and Isi Mirs and Isi Mirs and saj Jun Jud and in Mir and in Mirs and saj and saj in Maharashtra Capital Capital 60 hours of siege. Pakistani institutions later demolished the centre as evil actions eventually led to the liquidation of nine terrorists, while the only surviving Ultra Mohammad Ajmal Ajmal Kasab was landed in the custody of the Mumbai police. Kasab was hanged to death after being convicted on November 21, 2012.
Jundal, deported by Saudi Arabia in 2012, is currently under life imprisonment in the MCOCA (Maharashtra control of the Organized Crime Act) in the 2006 Aurangabad Arms Haul case. Jundal and 11 others were declared guilty of conspiracy, causing terror in the hearts of the people and eliminating public leaders such as then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Viswa Hindu Diocese leader Pravin Togadia.
Jundal, the highest weapon from Mumbai, was convicted for organizing terrorist activities across the country by recruiting Muslim youths for jihad.
The NIA investigation also sought to reveal the role of senior staff of the terrorist group, as well as Harkat-ul Jihad (Huji), Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Alias Tayyaji, Zaki-ur-rehman Lakhvi, SajjiD Alias aslias wasi, Illyas Kashmiri and Alreh syedman ablias abdias abdias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias ablias, Pasha.
