Tahawwur Rana extradition: What took so long for the US to grant India’s request

Authorities in India have been waiting to begin proceedings against Rana for more than a decade — the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2011 filed a chargesheet against Rana and eight other persons accused in the horrific Mumbai terror attack of 2008 that left 166 people dead, and more than 300 injured.

What took so long for the US to grant India’s extradition request for Rana? What awaits the 64-year-old in India?

The case against Rana

Tahawwur Hussain Rana is a former Pakistani military doctor who emigrated to Canada in the 1990s and eventually became a citizen. He later moved to Chicago, Illinois and established a consultancy firm named First World Immigration Services, a branch of which he opened in Mumbai.

In 2011, the US District Court in Chicago convicted Rana of conspiracy to provide “material support” to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist organisation behind the 26/11 attacks, between 2005 and 2009, and of supporting a plan to murder the employees of a Danish newspaper which was never executed. But Rana was acquitted on the charge of provisioning material support to the LeT in connection with the Mumbai attacks.

His co-conspirator David Headley — who was sentenced by a US federal court to 35 years in prison for his involvement with the LeT and the Mumbai attacks — claimed that he had travelled to Chicago in 2006 where Rana helped him obtain a business visa that allowed him to travel to India. Headly also claimed that Rana provided him with financial support in 2006, and that the Mumbai branch of Rana’s firm helped him identify and surveil potential targets for the LeT.

While Headly had told US prosecutors that he had informed Rana of the mission assigned to him by the LeT, in his 2016 deposition to the Bombay Sessions Court he said that Rana was informed about the conspiracy only a few months before the attacks were carried out in November 2008.

Though Headley told prosecutors in the US that he had informed Rana of the mission assigned to him by LeT, in 2016 he deposed before the Bombay Sessions Court and claimed he only informed Rana of his activities a few months before the attacks in November 2008, which resulted in the death of 166 people.

Rana and Headley were both arrested in the US in 2009. In 2011, Rana was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment followed by 5 years of supervised release.

The extradition request

The US initially did not grant India’s requests to extradite Rana and Headley.

US authorities said that Rana would first be required to serve his sentence in the United States. On the other hand, Headly had entered a plea bargain with the US government for a reduced 35-year sentence and protection from extradition to India.

Things changed in 2020 when Rana was granted an early release on health grounds from Terminal Island prison in California after testing positive for Covid-19. With Rana’s sentence nearing its conclusion, the Government of India revived its extradition request and requested Rana’s re-arrest. He was subsequently arrested in Los Angeles in June 2020.

This time, the US government led by President Joe Biden came out in support of the extradition request. The extradition case was heard by US District Court Judge Jacqueline Chooljian in Los Angeles, and the US Attorney’s office submitted that Rana met all the criteria for extradition. Rana, on the other hand, argued that he had already been acquitted of offenses related to the Mumbai attack, and was protected by Article 6 of the extradition treaty between the US and India.

The Article states that “Extradition shall not be granted when the person sought has been convicted or acquitted in the Requested State for the offense for which extradition is required”.

The District Judge, however, granted the extradition request on May 16, 2023. It ruled that the word “offence” in Article 6 refers to the definition of the crime itself and that the “charged Indian offenses contain different elements from the crimes adjudicated in the Northern District of Illinois”.

This ruling was upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on August 15, 2024, and again by the Supreme Court on January 21, 2025.

Rana has since filed a second petition challenging the extradition, and has requested a stay on it in the meantime. He is arguing that he faces the threat of torture in India, and extradition would violate the United Nations Convention Against Torture which has been signed by the US. However, the US Court of Appeals rejected the stay application on February 19, ruling that his second petition has “virtually no chance of success”.

With Justice Kagan’s rejection on March 6, Rana’s fate lies in the hands of Chief Justice John Roberts.

The case in India

In 2011, the NIA completed its investigation of the Mumbai attacks and filed a chargesheet against Rana, Headley, and seven others. According to the case page on the NIA website, all nine have been charged with murder and conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, along with charges of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The charge sheet was filed before an NIA Special Court judge in Delhi, which declared the accused persons as absconding in 2014, and issued fresh arrest warrants.

The proceedings in India are stalled as the IPC does not allow a trial or conviction to take place in absentia, that is, without the accused present and available (though provisions for such a trial have now been introduced in the Bharatiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita, 2023).

If and when Rana does land in India, his trial can begin in earnest. An NIA team is waiting for a final go-ahead to fly to the US to take custody of Rana.

As the investigation has been completed and the chargesheet has been filed, the NIA Special Court can begin the trial the moment Rana arrives. The Judge may proceed to frame the charges against Rana, which currently include offenses that can be punished with life imprisonment or even the death penalty. Once the various stages of the trial have concluded — including the examination of witnesses, presentation of evidence and arguments, and the final decision — either Rana or the NIA may appeal the decision before the High Court, and/or subsequently the Supreme Court of India.