Main setback for Tahawwur Rana as US high courtroom rejects plea in opposition to extradition to India

The US Supreme Court docket on Monday (April 7) delivered a serious setback to Pakistani-origin Canadian terrorist Tahawwur Rana by rejecting his plea in opposition to extradition to India.

Rana is needed by India for his involvement within the 2008 Mumbai terror assault.

The 64-year-old terrorist is presently lodged within the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles.

He had submitted an “Emergency Software For Keep Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus” on February 27, which was subsequently denied by Justice Elena Kagan, the Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit, final month.

After his preliminary plea was denied, Rana filed an pressing request once more—this time asking that or not it’s reviewed by Chief Justice John Roberts. The Supreme Court docket listed the renewed request for dialogue at its April 4 convention and despatched it to the complete bench for consideration.

However on Monday, the Supreme Court docket quietly posted an replace: “Software denied by the Court docket.”

With that, a serious authorized hurdle within the US has been cleared, transferring Rana one step nearer to being extradited to India, which has lengthy been urgent for it.

In February 2025, US President Donald Trump introduced the approval of Rana’s extradition to India, referring to him as “one of many plotters and one of many very evil individuals of the world.”

“Tahawwur Rana might be going again to India, the place he’ll face justice,” Trump introduced in a presser alongside Indian PM Narendra Modi.

Rana was named within the Mumbai Police’s 405-page chargesheet on the 26/11 terror assaults. He’s accused of working for Pakistan’s spy company, the ISI, and the phobia group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

In keeping with the chargesheet, Rana allegedly helped David Coleman Headley, the person who did the groundwork for the Mumbai assaults. Headley is alleged to have surveyed key places and entry factors, and Rana reportedly supported him throughout this planning part.

Lower than a yr after the assaults, the FBI arrested Rana in Chicago. On the time, he was working a journey company with Headley. Investigators consider that the Pakistani terrorists who carried out the assaults adopted a blueprint that Rana helped put collectively.

(With inputs from companies)