On the second consecutive day, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) continues its interrogation of Tahawwur Rana, a key conspirator behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. During the first round yesterday, agency officials grilled Rana for about two and a half hours. The NIA will also question Rana about his visits to Hapur, Agra, Meerut, and Delhi. During his visit to India with his wife, he stayed in these areas and surveyed several other locations before the Mumbai attacks. In the coming days, an NIA team might escort Tahawwur Rana to these locations.
Just before the Mumbai attacks, from 13th to 21st November 2008, Tahawwur Rana visited India. On 26th November 2008, ten Pakistani terrorists arrived by sea and targeted 12 spots in Mumbai with gunfire and bomb blasts. Out of these, eight attacks took place in South Mumbai, targeting locations like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway station, Oberoi Trident Hotel, Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, Nariman House, Metro Cinema, and Times of India building, as well as an alley behind St. Xavier's College. Additionally, blasts occurred in a taxi at Mazgaon docks and in the Vile Parle area.
Tahawwur Rana toured India before these attacks. During his visit to Hapur and Agra, he introduced a woman as his wife. The NIA wishes to determine if she was truly his wife or perhaps another suspected accomplice. Was Rana in India to set up sleeper cells? What were his motives for visiting western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi? These are the pressing questions the investigation seeks to uncover. Before the Mumbai attacks, David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani Army officer Major Iqbal, Sajid, and Tahawwur Rana plotted the 'Mickey Mouse Project' to attack Denmark.
David Coleman Headley's Link with ISI and Tahawwur Rana
According to NIA sources, Tahawwur Rana served as a link between David Coleman Headley and the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI. During Headley's first reconnaissance trip to India, he communicated with Rana about 32 times. During his second visit, they exchanged messages 23 times. During the third visit, the communication increased to 40 exchanges. However, during the fourth visit, there was no mobile contact recorded between Headley and Rana. During the fifth visit, 37 exchanges occurred. The sixth trip saw 33 exchanges, while there was no contact reported during the seventh. However, the eighth visit saw a significant surge with 66 communications.
Tahawwur Rana was born in Pakistan, and his childhood friend is David Coleman Headley, also known as Daoud Sayeed Gilani. Headley, who holds American citizenship, was born to an American mother and Pakistani father. He was arrested in Chicago in October 2009, and in January 2013, he was sentenced by a US Court to 35 years in prison for his involvement in the Mumbai attacks. Rana studied medicine at Hasan Abdal Cadet College in Pakistan and joined the medical corps of the Pakistani army. Headley attended the same school for five years before moving to the USA.
After serving as a doctor in the Pakistani army, Rana and his wife moved to Canada, where they gained Canadian citizenship in 2001. His wife, also a doctor, later joined him in Chicago. There, Rana established a consultancy firm, 'First World Immigration Services,' and even opened a branch in Mumbai that facilitated David Coleman Headley in his reconnaissance mission of the places targeted in the 26/11 attacks by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists.
Where are the Sleeper Cells Hidden in India?
Tahawwur Rana's exploration of Mumbai In October 2009, shortly after David Coleman Headley's arrest at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, US authorities also detained Tahawwur Rana. In 2011, a Chicago court found him guilty of providing logistical support to Lashkar-e-Taiba for the Mumbai attacks and plotting an attack on the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. This newspaper became controversial in 2005 for publishing cartoons of a prophet. During his trial, Headley revealed that he visited Rana in Chicago in July 2006, where Rana informed him about the Mumbai mission assigned by Lashkar.
With Headley's assistance, Rana established a branch of his firm 'First World Immigration Service' in Mumbai and helped Headley obtain a five-year business visa for India. Consequently, Headley was able to recon areas in Mumbai where the LeT terrorists were planning to launch attacks on 26th November 2008. In 2011, the NIA filed charges against Rana and eight others for planning and executing the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. In 2014, a Delhi court issued fresh warrants against those listed as fugitives in the NIA's charge sheet. After a prolonged legal and diplomatic struggle led by the NIA, Indian authorities successfully extradited Tahawwur Rana from the USA to India on 10th April 2025.
