The National Investigation Agency (NIA), in its ongoing probe into Tahawwur Rana’s involvement in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, is focusing on the network of people who helped plan the conspiracy.
Rana was questioned for the second day in a row as investigators try to understand how the large-scale attack was planned and who all were involved. NIA is also directing its effort to examine the possible links of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
As sources informed PTI news agency, the NIA is dissecting dozens of phone calls between Rana and Headley, using them to piece together the larger conspiracy that spanned continents. Investigators believe these conversations hold vital clues to the operational details of the attacks, and to those who worked behind the scenes.
As per court directives, Rana is allowed to meet a lawyer provided by the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) every alternate day, and undergoes a medical examination every 48 hours. “All procedures are being followed, like for other arrested individuals,” confirmed another officer.
Rana was brought to the NIA headquarters early Friday morning after a Delhi court granted 18-day custody to the probe agency, following his extradition from the US.
Tahawwur Rana is being questioned by a team of NIA officials as they try to piece together his exact role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that left the country shaken over 16 years ago.
Unnamed sources told PTI that investigators are grilling him based on a series of leads, including dozens of phone calls between him and David Coleman Headley — also known as Daood Gilani — the American national who’s currently serving time in a US prison for his role in the plot.
Rana is also being asked about people he met in the lead-up to the attacks, especially a key contact in Dubai who, according to officials, may have been aware of the plan to target Mumbai.
The 64-year-old Canadian businessman, originally from Pakistan, is also under the scanner for his suspected links to Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, and the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the strikes.
Officials are hoping that Rana’s answers, especially about his travel across parts of north and south India just days before the attack, might help uncover new details about the conspiracy.