Judge keeps India terror attack suspect in US custody

LOS ANGELES: A former Chicago businessman will remain in the United States as a federal judge in Los Angeles weighs whether he will be extradited to India for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack that killed more than 160 people.

Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian, is wanted by Indian authorities for his alleged involvement in the deadly attacks that are sometimes referred to as India’s 9/11. An Indian warrant for his arrest was issued in August 2018.

Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian on Thursday ordered the defence attorneys and prosecutors to file additional documents by July 15. Rana will remain in federal custody.

Indian authorities allege that Rana conspired with his childhood friend David Coleman Headley to assist Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, in the orchestration of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people, injured more than 200 and caused $1.5 billion in damage.

Headley and Rana attended military high school in Pakistan together. Rana’s immigration law centre in Chicago, as well as a satellite office in Mumbai, was allegedly used as a front for their terrorism activities between 2006 and 2008, prosecutors say.

Rana’s attorneys said their client was not aware of Headleys terrorism plot and was merely trying to help his childhood friend and set up a Mumbai business office.