Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta.
| Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH

The government has appointed a team of lawyers headed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to conduct trial against extradited Pakistani-Canadian terrorist Tahawwur Hussain Rana in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case.

In a notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the appointment has been made exercising the powers conferred under the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.

The central government hereby appoints a team of Special Public Prosecutors headed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and comprising Additional Solicitor General S. V. Raju, senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and advocate Narender Mann for conducting trial and other matters related to the case RC-04/2009/NIA/DLI on behalf of the NIA before the NIA Special Courts at Delhi, High Court of Delhi and Supreme Court of India for three years or till the completion of trial of the said case, whichever is earlier, the notification said.

The RC-04/2009/NIA/DLI pertains to the case registered with the NIA in Delhi involving the trial of Rana and David Coleman Headley in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

The NIA secured Rana’s extradition from the U.S. following years of sustained efforts and arrested him on April 10 upon his arrival here.

Rana is accused of being involved in the larger conspiracy behind 2008 dastardly strikes orchestrated by Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba in which 166 people were killed and over 238 injured.

He was sent to judicial custody on May 9 and lodged in Tihar jail after his custodial interrogation by the NIA.

During the custody, Rana was grilled by the NIA investigators for around eight to ten hours daily to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the 2008 terror attack case.

The 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian terrorist was also accused of making a large number of phone calls to his co-conspirator David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a U.S/ citizen currently in prison in that country.

Rana had also allegedly travelled in parts of northern and southern India days before the carnage in the country’s financial capital on November 26, 2008.

Rana has been charged with numerous offences, including conspiracy, murder, commission of a terrorist act and forgery in the country.

The anti-terror agency had registered a case on November 11, 2009 under sections 121 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 6(2) SAARC Convention (Suppression of Terrorism) Act against Headley, his childhood friend Rana and others.

During the NIA investigation, the roles of senior functionaries of terror groups LeT and Harkat-ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI) — Hafiz Muhammad Saeed alias Tayyaji, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Sajjid Majid alias Wasi, Illyas Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Major Abdurrehman alias Pasha — had also emerged.

These conspirators worked in active connivance with officials from Pakistan’s spy agency ISI, namely Major Iqbal alias Major Ali and Major Sameer Ali alias Major Samir, according to the NIA probe.