'Tahawwur Rana is going back to India!': Donald Trump approves extradition of 26/11 accused

US President Donald Trump announced in a major statement following his bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the US has decided to extradite Tahawwur Rana, the alleged terrorist in the 2008 Mumbai attack, to India. The main suspect in the 26/11 terror attack is incarcerated in a high-security facility in the United States, and India has been requesting his extradition for many years.

"We are handing over a very dangerous man to India, one who is accused of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack," President Trump stated.

Tahawwur Rana was extradited to India after the US Supreme Court denied his review petition on January 21, 2025. "In view of the recent Supreme Court decision, and consistent with applicable US law, the Department of State is currently evaluating next steps in this case," stated the State Department of the United States.

"We have long supported India's efforts to ensure the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks face justice," the statement continued.

Thanking President Trump for confirming the extradition of the terror suspect, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the United States' position on the matter. To be questioned and tried in India, a Mumbai terror attack offender is being extradited. I appreciate President Trump's efforts to speed up the procedure.

After being found guilty of his involvement in the 26/11 assaults on Mumbai, which claimed 164 lives, businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who is of Pakistani descent, will now be questioned by Indian authorities and put on trial in India. Knowing about the Mumbai terror attack, Rana maintained communication with the terrorist organizations and their commanders in Pakistan. Among the others who conspired with Rana was David Coleman Headley. To help Rana, Headley entered a guilty plea.

Additionally, Rana is charged with having close ties to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

According to a more than 400-page chargesheet filed by the Mumbai police, Tahawwur Hussain Rana arrived in India on November 11, 2008, and remained there until November 21. 

For two days, he stayed at the Renaissance Hotel in Powai, Mumbai.

The Mumbai crime section discovered email exchanges between Headley and Rana. David Headley inquired about Major Iqbal's email address in one of the emails on the 26/11 terror attacks.

An employee of the Pakistani intelligence organization Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Major Iqbal, was listed as an accused in the investigation of the 26/11 terror attack.

Rana had previously been charged in the Northern District of Illinois U.S. District Court. In the second superseding indictment, he was indicted on three charges. The jury found him guilty of Count 11 (conspiracy to give material support to terrorism in Denmark) and Count 12 (providing Lashkar-e-Taiba with material support).  A horrifying terror attack at Mumbai's famous Taj Mahal Hotel on November 26, 2008, left 166 people dead, including 20 members of the security forces and 26 foreigners, and injured over 300 more.