The Centre has appointed a special public prosecutor to lead the trial against Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, as India prepares to receive him following his extradition from the United States. Rana is expected to arrive in the country on Thursday.
In a late-night notification, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs named advocate Narender Mann as the special public prosecutor to conduct the trial and all related proceedings for the NIA case RC-04/2009/NIA/DLI, which pertains to the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives.
The appointment, made under Section 15 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 and Section 18(8) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, will see Mann represent the National Investigation Agency (NIA) before Special NIA Courts in Delhi and before appellate courts, for a period of three years or until the trial concludes, whichever comes first.
The move signals the government’s intent to push ahead with the long-delayed prosecution of Rana, whose role is linked to Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the key conspirators in the attacks. With the extradition imminent, India is now prepared to intensify legal proceedings in one of its most high-profile terror cases.
