Loknath Behera was an inspector-general with the National Investigation Agency when he led its questioning of terror-accused David Coleman Headley in the US, an exercise that helped establish Tahawwur Rana’s role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
With Rana being extradited to India on Thursday, Behera — the managing director of Kochi Metro and a former Kerala director-general of police — expressed hope that more details of the conspiracy behind the 26/11 attacks would now be known.
“We believe that Rana knows more than what we do. Now things will be clear with his extradition and we can learn who was behind the attack and how it happened. The missing links can be bridged now,” Behera told The Telegraph.
Since the news broke about Rana’s arrival in Delhi, Behera has been flooded with calls for interviews from various media organisations.
The Odisha native, who seems to be enjoying the sudden attention, has been patiently recalling his stint in the NIA which saw him travel to the US, with a team, to question Headley in 2010.
The 1985-batch IPS officer from the Kerala cadre headed the NIA’s terror-financing and fake currency cell in Delhi at the time.
He said that he and his team had questioned Headley — who assisted the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba plan and carry out the 2008 Mumbai attacks — for a total of 72 hours across nine days.
“Rana has been charged in two cases, one by the NIA and the other by the Mumbai police. He was the facilitator of Headley,” Behera said.
“Rana will now be taken into custody by the NIA for interrogation, with the permission of the court. The NIA will collect all the evidence, verify the facts and file the supplementary chargesheet. The Mumbai police will similarly initiate an exercise to file their chargesheet.”