External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that the extradition of 26/11 Mumbai attacks key conspirator Tahawwur Rana was “big step” in ensuring justice for the victims of the terror act.
Jaishankar was responding to US State Secretary Marco Rubio’s remark on Rana’s successful handover from American authorities to India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA).
“Appreciate the counter-terrorism cooperation between our two countries. This is indeed a big step in ensuring justice for the victims of 26/11 attacks,” the MEA said in a post on X.
Rubio had taken to X to say that the day that India and the United States have long waited for, to bring justice for the victims of the 26/11 attacks, has finally come with the extradition of Rana.
In a post on X, Rubio said, “We extradited Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India to face charges for his role in the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Together, with India, we’ve long sought justice for the 166 people, including 6 Americans, who lost their lives in these attacks. I’m glad that day has come.”
The State Department had on Thursday said that the 26/11 terror attacks shocked the entire world, adding that Washington supported India’s efforts to ensure that those responsible were brought to justice.
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce had said, “On April 9, the United States had extradited Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India to face justice for his role in planning the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.”
“The United States has long supported India’s efforts to ensure those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice, and as President Trump has said, the United States and India will continue to work together to combat the global scourge of terrorism,” she added.
Bruce also said that Rana is in the possession of India and the US is “very proud of that dynamic”. She reminded that the attacks claimed the lives of 166 people, including six Americans, sending shockwaves through the entire world.
“I encourage you to look them up and to find out exactly how horrible this was in the importance of this situation today,” Bruce said.
Earlier, a spokesperson for the US Department of Justice had told news agency PTI that the US had extradited convicted terrorist and Pakistani-Canadian citizen, Rana, to stand trial in India on 10 criminal charges that are rooted in his alleged role in the 26/11 attacks.
“Rana’s extradition is a critical step toward seeking justice for the six Americans and scores of other victims who were killed in the heinous attacks,” the spokesperson added.
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) had on Thursday confirmed the successful extradition of Rana. A Delhi court has remanded him in the agency’s custody for 18 days, with interrogation process also kick starting on Friday.
Tahawwur Rana in US
Rana’s extradition from the US came just days after the 26/11 key conspirator exhausted all his options to evade returning to India. The US Supreme Court justices had denied his application, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities.
In the US, Rana was lodged in prison in a separate criminal case. The 64-year-old was in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles and had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus’ with the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the US and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan on February 27, 2025.
However, Kagan denied the application. Rana again renewed his plea and requested that it be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts this time.
This was also denied by the top court.
In his emergency application, Tahawwur Rana had sought a “stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13, 2025, petition for a writ of habeas corpus asserting, inter alia, that his extradition to India violates United States law… implementing the terms of the United Nations Convention Against Torture because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture”.
“The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani-origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” it added.
The application also mentioned Rana’s “severe medical conditions” which render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto” death sentence in this case.
‘Very evil’ Tahawwur Rana
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in February, US president Donald Trump had announced at a joint press conference that his administration had approved the extradition of the “very evil” Tahawwur Rana “to face justice in India”.
Rana had helped his close aide David Coleman Headley, another mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, secure a visa and SIM cards when the LeT man visited India in the planning phase of the 26/11 terror attack.