- Saturday, April 12, 2025
The probe agency has submitted that the 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman has to be confronted with a lot of evidence
By: India Weekly
THE NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY is carrying out an extensive interrogation of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Tahawwur Hussain Rana to uncover the “deeper layers of the conspiracy”, the probe agency told a Delhi court.
“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 special NIA judge Chander Jit Singh late Thursday while presenting its arguments, sources said.
The 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman has to be confronted with a lot of evidence and his statements would lead to “additional discoveries”, the NIA submitted.
The agency further told the court it needed to investigate his links with other terrorists and those accused in the Mumbai attack case.
“Rana will remain in NIA custody for 18 days, during which time the agency will question him in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks,” said a statement issued by the probe agency soon after the court’s order.
NIA is also zeroing in on an elusive figure who allegedly met Rana in Dubai before the carnage, NDTV reports.
The agency sources claim that this person knew about the attack. They believe that questioning Rana could finally unravel the ‘Dubai connection’ to the Mumbai terror attack.
NIA is also probing whether this Dubai-based individual was associated with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence or any terror groups operating from Pakistan.
As Rana’s questioning began to “unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks”, it is learnt that the NIA’s interrogation was focused on getting more details on his possible connection with Pakistan-based LeT, which had orchestrated the strike.
Sources said that Rana would also be questioned on his suspected links with the officials of Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and his exact role behind the attack.
They further said that as part of the probe to piece together crucial evidence and retrace events from 17 years ago Rana may be taken to key locations, allowing them to reconstruct the crime scene and gain deeper insight into the larger terror network at play.
The investigators also hope to find some important leads on his travels in parts of northern and southern India, days before the carnage that began on November 26, 2008, they said.
Rana visited Hapur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai with his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar, between November 13 and November 21, 2008, the sources said.
They said there could have been a larger conspiracy aimed at targeting other places across the country behind his visits to these places, and the exact details would be ascertained only after his interrogation.
The NIA said that as part of the criminal conspiracy, Headley, who is the accused number 1, 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.
Rana is being kept in a highly-secured cell, inside NIA’s head office in Delhi, being guarded by security personnel round the clock, the sources said.
Security around the NIA office has been beefed up. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Delhi Police personnel are guarding the outer periphery of NIA headquarters.
The investigation is being led by NIA’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Jaya Roy, who is also the Chief Investigating Officer, the sources said.
In its order, the court 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.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and Special Public Prosecutor Narender Mann represented the NIA.
Meanwhile, Rana has requested the Delhi Court that “there should not be any counsel, who may appear to earn name and fame through him”, Indian Express reports.
In his order, Additional Sessions Judge (NIA) Chander Jit Singh has directed that the Legal Services Counsel shall not speak to the media about accused of this case.
Rana, a former Pakistan Army Medical Corps personnel, was arrested in Chicago in October 2009, 11 months after the Mumbai attacks, for providing logistical support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists.
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 Mumbai using the sea route in the Arabian Sea.
As many as 166 people were killed in the nearly 60-hour assault that sent shockwaves across the country and even brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. (Agencies)
