Tahawwur Rana Was Declared Deserter By Pak Army. How He Went On To Plot 26/11
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the key conspirator in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks who was extradited to India after a long diplomatic battle, has revealed crucial details about the planning behind the 2008 terror strike that left over 170 people dead.
According to sources in the Mumbai Police crime branch, 64-year-old Rana shared during questioning how he helped David Coleman Headley, the mastermind of the attacks, identify key targets such as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
The Army Days
Rana has said he completed an MBBS course in 1986 from the Army Medical College in Pakistan's Rawalpindi and was commissioned as a Captain doctor in the Pakistani Army in Quetta. He was posted in sensitive regions such as Sindh, Balochistan, Bahawalpur, and Siachen-Balotra. During his time in Siachen, Rana developed pulmonary edema. This is an abnormal condition that causes a fluid buildup in the lungs. This led to his absence from duty and he was declared a deserter. He had earlier said that he agreed to be part of the terror plot because Headley had assured that he would help clean Rana's records.
Rana has said that the Pakistani military establishment, which backed the terrorists, trusted him and also sent him on a secret mission to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War.
He also lived in Germany, the UK, the US before settling in Canada and starting businesses in meat processing, real estate, and groceries.
The Headley Connection
Rana and Headley had attended the Cadet College Hasan Abdal between 1974 and 1979. Headley's mother was American and his father was a Pakistani national. Rana said Headley fled to the US after differences with his stepmother and started living with his biological mother. Rana has said Headley attended three Lashkar-e-Taiba training camps between 2003 and 2004. Headley, Rana has said, told him that Lashkar functioned more as a spy network than an ideological outfit.
Rana's Role In 26/11
The NIA chargesheet in the 26/11 case says Headley travelled to several Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pushkar, Goa and Pune in the guise of a representative with a company, Immigrant Law Centre. Rana has told the crime branch that setting up this company was his idea. A woman ran it. This office served as a front to enable the terrorists' surveillance before the attacks.
Rana has revealed that he visited India in November 2008 and stayed at a hotel in Mumbai's Powai on the 20th and 21st, days before the terror attacks. Just before the strike, he left for Beijing via Dubai.
A 405-page supplementary chargesheet filed by the crime branch in 2023 says Rana helped Headley collect information about crowded locations like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
As many as 14 witnesses have confirmed his role. Asked about forged Indian documents that aided the terrorists, Rana blamed the Indian Embassy. The investigation has, however, revealed that Rana helped Headley enter India using false documents.
Rana has admitted to knowing Pakistani officials Sajid Mir, Abdul Rehman Pasha, and Major Iqbal, all accused of planning the attacks. He is learned to have actively coordinated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Pakistani spy agency ISI.
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