The National Investigation Agency (NIA) made a fresh request for extradition of David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana when the FBI deputy chief Andrew McCabe visited India on April 3, the NIA spokesperson told the International Business Times, India.
"When such visits take place all the issues pending between the two countries we discuss. So, this issue of extradition of Headley and Rana was also discussed. The deputy director of FBI said he will go back and look into the matter. Extradition proceedings are very time-taking detailed proceedings, it's a long procedure," the spokesperson told IBT India.
Headley, also known as Daood Sayed Gilani, and Rana are serving jail terms in the US. Headley was a freelance reconnaissance agent for terrorist groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which was responsible for the Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people and injured almost 300 in 2008. He deposed via video to a Mumbai court as a witness of the prosecution.
Rana, accused of forgery and criminal breach of trust, has not been tried for his crimes in India. The NIA told McCabe that though Rana was convicted in the US for providing material support to the LeT, he has not been tried in India for his crimes.
The attack in Mumbai in November 2008 went on for four days and multiple locations were targetted by the ten Pakistani nationals belonging to the Islamist terrorist group. Later, attacks took place at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Nariman House Jewish community centre, the Metro Cinema, among others.
Rana, a Pakistani, based in Chicago was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2013 for conspiracy to "provide material support to a terrorist plot in Denmark and providing material support to Lashkar-e- Tayyiba, a terrorist organization operating in Pakistan that was responsible for the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India." The FBI website said he was "convicted of the charges on June 9, 2011, following a three-week trial in US District Court in Chicago."
In Denmark, he was part of the plan between October 2008 and October 2009 to "commit murder in Denmark, including a horrific plan to behead employees of Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, and throw their heads on to the street in Copenhagen."
