Tahawwur Hussain Rana, accused of facilitating the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was extradited to India Thursday after exhausting all legal options in the US.
But even as he faces justice, attention has turned to his long-time associate and another conspirator of the Mumbai attacks— David Coleman Headley, who remains shielded in an American prison under a plea deal that prevents his extradition.
While the National Investigation Agency has said, Rana was the “mastermind of the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks,” former Union home secretary G.K. Pillai in an interview with The Hindu said Thursday that while Rana had played a “small role” in the 26/11 attacks, David Coleman Headley, who was the main conspirator, was protected by the US.
Rana, 64, is a close childhood friend of Headley, alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen of Pakistani origin. The two were educated at the same military school in Pakistan.
Investigators have long maintained that Headley’s movements and operations in India were made easier by the support and cover provided by Rana.
Headley, who is serving a 35-year sentence in a US prison, had earlier pleaded guilty to his role in the deadly attacks after being arrested by the FBI at Chicago’s O’Hare airport in 2009.
David Coleman Headley, the alleged double agent
Born as Daood Sayed Gilani in Washington DC to Sayed Salim Gilani, a noted Pakistani diplomat and broadcaster, and his American wife Alice Serrill Headley, David spent his early years at a boarding school in Pakistan.
Later, he moved to the United States and worked as a barman in his family’s pub in Philadelphia.
It was during this period that Headley began establishing links with the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according to reports.
In 1998, he was convicted of smuggling heroin into the US and sentenced to two years in prison.
Upon his release, he began working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), participating in undercover surveillance operations in Pakistan.
According to Pillai, Headley worked as a double agent for the US government and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.
Mumbai attacks plot
Between 2002 and 2005, Headley is believed to have attended at least five LeT training camps.
Posing as a business consultant, he travelled to India several times between 2006 and 2008.
During these visits, he carried out detailed reconnaissance of prime targets including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, and Nariman House.
His travel and identity were facilitated by Rana’s immigration firm in the US, which operated as a front for Headley’s espionage missions.
Beyond Mumbai, both men were involved in a separate terror plot targeting the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, infamous for publishing controversial cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in 2005.
This plan—codenamed the “Mickey Mouse Project”—involved a gruesome scheme to behead the newspaper’s staff and display their heads in Copenhagen.
FBI arrested both Rana and Headley at Chicago airport in October 2009 while allegedly preparing to carry out this attack.
“Even post the 26/11 attack, Headley came back to Mumbai. We could have arrested him in Mumbai if we had known that he is an accomplice in terms of logistics and support. It was definitely bad faith by the Americans. It really shows that as far as the Americans are concerned, they look after only their interests, and not concerned with anybody else’s,” said Pillai in the interview to The Hindu.
Why David Headley can’t be extradited
While Indian investigators regard Headley as a crucial figure whose testimony could complete the 26/11 probe, his extradition to India is not possible due to a binding legal agreement with the US government, according to a report by CNN-News18.
His 2010 plea bargain not only spared him the death penalty but also granted him immunity from extradition to India, Pakistan, or Denmark.
This cooperation deal—signed in exchange for Headley’s testimony against his co-conspirators, including Rana—made him a protected witness in the US.
Indian officials have acknowledged that the deal prevents Headley from facing justice in Indian courts.
Among the 166 killed were US, British and Israeli nationals. Besides, 238 were injured in the deadly attacks carried out by a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre after they sneaked into Mumbai through the Arabian Sea.