A US court has allowed Pakistani-Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking a stay on his extradition proceedings till his appeal is being finalised by it, which officials in New Delhi described as normal legal process. The court has asked Tahawwur Rana to submit his argument before October 10 and the US government to submit its response by November 8 (ANI)

Rana, 62, is wanted in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and his extradition to India was ordered by a US district court in May. He had approached the Ninth Circuit Court against the extradition.

District judge Dale S Fisher of the US district court in central California said in his order on August 18 that Rana’s “ex parte application” seeking a stay on his extradition was granted. “The court finds that the balance of the stay factors favors a stay pending appeal. The ex parte application is granted.The extradition of Rana to India is stayed pending the conclusion of his appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,” judge Fischer said in the order.

“It is a normal legal process that till the time the Ninth Circuit Court will hear his appeal, his extradition will be stayed. It doesn’t mean that his extradition has been forever stayed,” a government official in New Delhi said, declining to be named. “It is not a setback for India.”

While the court did not find that Rana made “a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits” – otherwise the court would have ruled in his favour in the first instance – he has raised legal questions going to the merits, the judge wrote.

The court has asked Rana to submit his argument before October 10 and the US government to submit its response by November 8.

Magistrate judge Jacqueline Chooljian of the central California district in May ruled that Rana can be extradited to India, citing sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that he committed the offences for which the extradition was sought.

Rana is accused of helping co-conspirator David Coleman Headley in reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and allegedly planning the Pakistan-backed terrorist attack on Mumbai, which left 166 people dead.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Rana in Chicago in October 2009 for providing material support to conspiracies to commit terrorist acts outside the US, including in Mumbai and Copenhagen. He was convicted in 2013 of conspiracy to provide support to a plot to commit murder in Denmark, including beheading employees of Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten.

In June 2020, India sought Rana’s provisional arrest for his extradition. The Joe Biden administration supported it.

American prosecutors argued that Rana was aware of his childhood friend Headley’s involvement with Lashkar-e-Taiba. He was supporting the terrorist organisation and its associates by providing Headley cover, they argued. Rana knew of Headley’s meetings, what was discussed and the planning of the attacks, they said.

Rana was part of the conspiracy and there is probable cause that he committed the substantive crime of commissioning a terrorist act, the US government has said.