New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday accepted a National Investigation Agency (NIA) plea seeking custody of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Tahawwur Hussain Rana for 12 more days.
Rana was produced before special NIA judge Chander Jit Singh amid tight security and with his face covered, after his 18-day NIA custody expired.
#WATCH | Delhi: 26/11 Mumbai attacks accused Tahawwur Rana brought to Patiala House court after the end of his 18-day NIA remand pic.twitter.com/q70Bi4gqVN
— ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2025
The central probe agency apprised the judge in an in-chamber about the ongoing investigation since being granted Rana’s custody. Rana, a close associate of 26/11 main conspirator David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, was extradited to India from the US earlier this month.
He is currently held in a high-security cell at the NIA headquarters in Delhi CGO Complex.
Rana is allowed to use a ‘soft-tip pen’ in his cell and meet his lawyer in the presence of NIA officials, who would be out of audible range. The court has allowed him to meet his lawyer every alternate day, while his medical examination is being conducted every day.
NIA sleuths have been grilling Rana based on multiple leads, including a large number of phone calls between him and Headley.
NIA also has a lead on a Dubai-based person, believed to have met Rana on Headley’s request, Times Now reported quoting sources. One of the conversations that NIA has documents on, Headley apparently asks Rana not to visit India in the fall of 2008. He also facilitated a meeting in Dubai with ‘Mr X’.
Investigators believe Mr ‘X’ knew about the Mumbai attack plans, though his identity has not been revealed yet.
NIA is also checking if this mystery man was connected to Dawood Ibrahim or his criminal network known as D-Company, based in Dubai, IANS reported. These conversations are believed to provide vital clues to operational details of the deadly 60-hour assault in Mumbai, in which 166 people were killed in November 2008.
