New Delhi: During the ongoing interrogation of 2008 Mumbai terror attack key accused Tahawwur Rana by NIA—which began on Friday, was asked about his co-conspirators in Pakistan. According to reports, he may be set to confront with a “protected witness” who allegedly received David Coleman Headley in Mumbai in 2006 as well as arranged logistics and accommodation for him, reported the Hindustan Times.
A special court in Delhi had sent Rana to 18 days in NIA custody in the early hours of Friday. After the court order around 2am, Rana was brought to the NIA headquarters on Lodhi Road. Reports claimed he was allowed to rest till the morning.
In June 2010, a NIA team had questioned Headley in the US. According to reports, Rana’s interrogation is based on the “protected witness.” Reports claim that the ‘protected witness’ is linked to Rana’s childhood friend and key conspirator Headley.
“This protected witness was very close to Rana and could be confronted with him soon,” said officials, requesting anonymity, as quoted by HT.
The identity of this individual has been kept confidential even in the court documents. This has been done to protect him from any harm from Pakistan’s state actors and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The which were involved in the 26/11 attacks.
Reports claimed that this ‘protected witness’ visited India in September 2006 and took videos as asked by Pakistan based handlers.
Besides the protected witness, NIA is also relying on calls of Rana and Healey, recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2009. The agency will also question other individuals who were associated with Rana’s Immigration Law Centre office in Mumbai, reported Hindustan Times.
Special aircraft for extradition
Rana was brought back to India in a special aircraft, a Gulfstream G550, that first stopped in Dubai. Later, it landed in Delhi at around 6pm on Thursday. India had waited for 16 years to prosecute one of the planners of the deadliest terror strikes in India. Around 166 people were killed and 238 others were injured.
Over the next 18 days, Rana’s interrogation, which is being videographed, will cover the entire conspiracy. It is believed that the conspiracy had been hatched sometime in 2005. Back then, Headley was ordered by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to travel to India for conducting reconnaissance of targets for a major attack, the third official added.
The officials cited above said the initial questioning focused on the link between Rana and Headley. Rana met one of the planners of the attack in Dubai in 2008, when he along with his wife had planned to visit China, India and Dubai. This co-planner advised Rana not to go to India because attacks were imminent, NIA’s documents reveal. “Rana is being asked about this Dubai co-conspirator,” the Hindustan Times reported, quoting an anonymous official.
During his India visit, Headley had carried out reconnaissance of Chabad Houses in Delhi, Goa, and Pushkar, as well as the National Defence College (NDC) in 2009.
Reports also claim that Rana might be taken to Mumbai, Agra, Ahmedabad and Cochin to identify the individuals he met and places he visited in India , said the first officer.
Meanwhile, another NDTV report claimed Rana told investigators that even after leaving the Pakistani Army’s medical corps, he continued wearing his uniform while meeting Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives and people linked to Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI .
Rana is only the second person to stand trial in India for the 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.
Know about Rana’s early life
Rana hails from Chichawatni, a village in Pakistan’s Punjab province. His father was a school principal. Rana is one of three brothers. One of his brothers is a psychiatrist in the Pakistani army. His another brother works as a journalist. He studied at Cadet College Hasanabdal, where he met David Coleman Headley (Dawood Sayed Gilani). Headley is the Pakistani-American linked to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and is currently lodged in a US prison.
Rana moved to Canada in 1997 with his wife, Samraz Rana Akhtar, who is a practising physician. He started an immigration consultancy first. He also ventured into the halal meat business. The consultancy, according to reports, became the centre for terror activities, where Headley posed as a consultant.
