The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is closely examining the movements of Tahawwur Rana, a 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian national and key accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, as fresh details suggest he may have been part of a larger conspiracy to orchestrate similar strikes in other parts of India.
According to NIA sources, Rana, who was extradited from the United States on Thursday, had travelled across several Indian cities shortly before the Mumbai attacks. Accompanied by his wife, Samraz Rana Akhtar, he visited Hapur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, as well as Delhi, Kochi, and Ahmedabad. Notably, he also stayed at Mumbai’s Taj Hotel — one of the main targets during the 26/11 attacks. These visits took place between November 13 and November 21, 2008.
While producing Rana before a Delhi court on Thursday night, the agency stated that he was suspected of plotting coordinated attacks on multiple Indian cities, similar to the Mumbai assault that killed 166 people. Email communications accessed by the NIA suggest that Rana acted as a liaison between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and David Coleman Headley — his childhood friend and a US national who conducted recce of the Mumbai targets.
Rana, a former doctor in the Pakistani Army who later acquired Canadian citizenship, is expected to be taken to various 26/11 attack sites in Mumbai as part of crime scene reconstruction. Investigators are also planning to take him to other cities he visited prior to the attacks to probe whether these trips were linked to a broader terror plot allegedly masterminded by the ISI and the banned terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
In chilling revelations, officials said that after the Mumbai attacks, Rana told Headley the victims "deserved it" and praised the nine LeT terrorists who died during the operation, suggesting they should receive Pakistan’s highest military honor.
The agency has also confirmed that Rana and Headley were in regular contact. Between 2006 and 2008, they exchanged over 230 phone calls while Headley conducted reconnaissance missions across India. Beyond LeT, Rana is believed to have maintained ties with Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HuJI) and other Pakistan-based conspirators involved in planning the attacks.
To facilitate Headley’s activities in India, Rana opened a branch of his U.S.-based immigration firm, First World Immigration Services, in Mumbai in 2006. This allowed Headley to assume the role of branch manager, providing him cover as he carried out his assignments.
Rana was arrested in the United States in 2009 alongside Headley and was convicted of plotting an aborted terror attack in Copenhagen. Now back in Indian custody, he is being interrogated by a 12-member NIA team in a high-security 14x14 ft room under constant CCTV surveillance.
The NIA has refrained from sharing the contents of Rana’s interrogation but confirmed that investigators are trying to establish the full extent of the terror network and the plans that may have been in motion to target other Indian cities. “We are connecting every dot — who was involved, where they went, and what exactly was planned,” an NIA officer said.
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