NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency on Friday began an extensive interrogation of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Tahawwur Hussain Rana to uncover the “deeper layers of the conspiracy” as the probe agency told a Delhi court it suspects he had plans to target other Indian cities as well with similar large-scale strikes.
Rana, the 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman, was brought to the National Investigation Agency(NIA) headquarters here early this morning shortly after a Delhi court granted the agency his 18-day custody.
Escorted by NIA officials, Rana reached Delhi on Thursday evening on a chartered aircraft after his extradition from the US ending a 16-year-long wait to prosecute one of the key accused in the deadly Mumbai attack in November 2008 in which 166 persons were killed and over 238 injured.
“His (Rana) prolonged custody has been deemed necessary to facilitate an extensive interrogation aimed at uncovering deeper layers of the conspiracy. We suspect that the tactics used in the Mumbai attacks were intended for execution in other cities as well, prompting investigators to examine whether similar plots were developed elsewhere,” the NIA is believed to have informed special NIA judge Chander Jit Singh late Thursday while presenting its arguments, sources said.
Rana has to be confronted with a lot of evidence and his statements would lead to “additional discoveries”, the NIA submitted. The agency further told the court it needed to investigate his links with other terrorists and those accused in the Mumbai attack case,
Rana, who is a close associate of 26/11 main conspirator David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen, is accused of conspiring with the latter and operatives of designated terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) along with other Pakistan-based co-conspirators, to carry out the three-day terror siege of India’s financial capital.
As Rana’s questioning began to “unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks”, it is learnt that the NIA’s interrogation is focused on getting more details on his possible connection with Pakistan-based LeT, which had orchestrated the strike.
Sources said that Rana would also be questioned on his suspected links with the officials of Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and his exact role behind the attack.
They further said that as part of the probe to piece together crucial evidence and retrace events from 17 years ago Rana may be taken to key locations, allowing them to reconstruct the crime scene and gain deeper insight into the larger terror network at play.
The investigators also hope to find some important leads on his travels in parts of northern and southern India, days before the carnage that began on November 26, 2008, they said.
Rana visited Hapur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai with his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar between November 13 and November 21, 2008, the sources said.
They said there could have been a larger conspiracy aimed at targeting other places across the country behind his visits to these places, and the exact details would be ascertained only after his interrogation.
Rana is being kept in a highly-secured cell, inside the anti-terror agency’s head office at CGO complex here, being guarded by security personnel round the clock, the sources said.
A 24×7 surveillance is being maintained and Rana has been provided with basic necessities like food and meals among others, they said.
Security around the NIA office has been beefed up. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Delhi Police personnel are guarding the outer periphery of NIA headquarters.
The investigation is being led by NIA’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Jaya Roy, who is also the Chief Investigating Officer, the sources said.
“Rana will remain in NIA custody for 18 days, during which time the agency will question him in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks,” said a statement issued by the probe agency soon after the court’s order.
The NIA said that as part of the criminal conspiracy, Headley, who is the accused number 1, had discussed the entire operation with Rana before his visit to India.
Anticipating potential challenges, Headley sent an email to Rana detailing his belongings and assets, the NIA told the court, and Headley also informed Rana about the involvement of Pakistani nationals Ilyas Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, who are also accused in the case, in the plot.
In its order, the court directed the NIA to conduct medical examination of Rana every 24 hours, and allow him to meet his lawyer every alternate day.
The judge allowed Rana to use only a “soft-tip pen” and meet his lawyer in the presence of the NIA officials, who would be out of an audible distance.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and Special Public Prosecutor Narender Mann represented the NIA.
The anti-terror agency had registered a case on November 11, 2009 under sections 121 A of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 18 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 6(2) SAARC Convention (Suppression of Terrorism) Act against Headley, Rana and others.
Rana is charged with numerous offenses, including conspiracy, murder, commission of a terrorist act, and forgery in the country.
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 emerged, officials said.
They worked in active connivance with officials from the ISI, namely Major Iqbal alias Major Ali and Major Sameer Ali alias Major Samir, according to the NIA probe.
