Extradite 26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana to India, US govt urges its Supreme Court

The United States government has urged the Supreme Court to dismiss a petition filed by Mumbai-attack convict Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, to avoid his extradition to India.

India is seeking the extradition of Rana as he is wanted in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack case.

Having lost the legal battle against his extraditions in lower courts and several federal courts, including the US Court of Appeals for the North Circuit in San Francisco, Rana on Nov 13 filed a "petition for a writ of certiorari" before the US Supreme Court.

In a long battle, this is Rana's last legal chance to avoid extradition to India.

Rana, currently lodged in a jail in Los Angeles, faces charges for his role in the Mumbai attacks and is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

"The petition for a writ of certiorari should be denied," US Solicitor General Elizabeth B Prelogar said in its filing before the Supreme Court on Dec 16.

Rana is not entitled to relief from extradition to India in this case, she argued in a 20-page submission.

In his “petition for a writ of certiorari to review the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,” Rana has argued that he was tried and acquitted in the federal court in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) on charges relating to the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai. "India now seeks to extradite him for trial on charges based on the identical conduct at issue in the Chicago case," the plea has said.

Prelogar disagreed.

"The government does not concede that all of the conduct on which India seeks extradition was covered by the government's prosecution in this case. For example, India's forgery charges are based in part on conduct that was not charged in the United States: petitioner's use of false information in an application to formally open a branch office of the Immigration Law Centre submitted to the Reserve Bank of India," the US solicitor general said.

"It is not clear that the jury's verdict in this case ― which involves conspiracy charges and was somewhat difficult to parse ― means that he has been 'convicted or acquitted' on all of the specific conduct that India has charged," Prelogar said.

A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations of Mumbai.

(PTI)