Tahawwur Rana, an accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack which killed 166 people, has been granted permission to file an additional reply against his extradition to India by a United States District Court in Los Angeles that ruled in his favour.
Upon investigation conducted by National Investigation Agency in 2011, a charge sheet for execution of the terror attack was filed against 9 people among which Rana was one of the accused. Rana being a Canadian citizen is currently based in Chicago hence India had to sought Rana’s extradition.
Due to health issues, he was granted early release after which India pushed its pending provisional arrest request for Rana, which led to his re-arrest on June 10, 2020. The United States has supported India’s request for his extradition.
Justice Jacqueline Chooljian, in his order on Wednesday, gave Rana the permission to file a surreply before 12th April, 2021 to which the government may or may not file any surrebuttal to the surreply.
The court further scheduled an in-person extradition hearing on April 22, 2021 while making it clear, as per the law, that the hearing would take place on land, publicly and within a room or office conveniently accessible to general public.
The judge ordered both the parties to submit a status report within a week.
