Shweta Tambade
US court has rejected the bail plea of Pakistani origin-Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, a major accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
The US court stood with India’s request that the documents submitted by it in support of extradition of Rana not be made public.
Tahawwur Rana is a declared fugitive by India and stated that he has not negated the “risk of flight”.
59 year- old Rana, was a childhood friend of David Coleman Headley and was rearrested on June 10th, in Los Angeles on extradition request by India for being involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
166 people including many Americans were killed in the 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attack.
Pakistani – American LeT terrorist Headley is currently serving 35 years jail for involvement in plotting of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
The extradition documents presented by India supposedly include information about Rana’s involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attack that would be shared with him.
On India’s request, the US government in the court have supported not to make the documents public.
“Although the United States has no affirmative discovery obligations in extradition matters, in this case, it has agreed to provide Rana a document in its possession from an unrelated ‘state court’ proceeding in India. India has requested that the United States take steps to limit public dissemination of this document,” US Attorney Nicola T Hanna said in a court submission on Friday.
Rana has informed the United States that he may seek to introduce materials provided as discovery and labelled “general discovery materials” and “sensitive discovery materials” in United States v Kashmiri, Case in opposition of the United States’ Request for Extradition. These discovery materials are subject to a protective order issued in the Northern District of Illinois, it said.
In the December 10 order, the judge said that Rana was currently facing multiple criminal charges emerging from India in connection with alleged conduct by him and formed a basis for federal criminal charges.
Rana was tried in Chicago and relates to the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai.
In his bail Plea Rana said that he has a poor health condition including two heart attack while in custody and two weeks of illness early this year.
The judge noted that Rana did not perform any violent acts himself and instead provided material support to the Denmark plot by furnishing Headley with business cards, supporting his business cover, and providing him with logistical support for his travels and plots.
The judge wrote that the Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Murder charges are obviously extremely serious.
The judge wrote that the letters filed by the government bring back the devastating effect the Mumbai attacks have on the victims and their families.
The charges in Rana till date are not enormous. The other charges of Conspiracy to Commit Forgery for the Purpose of Cheating and the Conspiracy to Use as Genuine a Forged Document or Electronic Record – are far less serious in and of themselves – but the weight of the evidence presented to date against Rana as to those charges is far stronger, Chooljian wrote.
There is no question in the Court’s mind that given Rana’s significant foreign ties, particularly to Canada, and the potential death penalty awaiting him in India if he is extradited on and convicted of the most serious pending charges, that Rana is a flight risk, the judge wrote.