NIA Intensifies Probe into Tahawwur Rana’s Role in 26/11 Mumbai Attacks, Cites U.S. Court Testimonies and Investigative Evidence

As the National Investigation Agency (NIA) continues its interrogation of Tahawwur Rana inside a high-security cell at its headquarters, investigators are drawing upon extensive evidence from U.S. court proceedings to deepen their inquiry into his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian businessman, is accused of facilitating the operations of David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani-American operative who conducted reconnaissance in Mumbai on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit. U.S. court records reveal that Rana was fully aware of the nature of Headley’s mission and actively supported it under the guise of legitimate business operations.

One of the most chilling disclosures came from a May 2008 update Headley gave to Rana, detailing his surveillance activities in and around Mumbai’s coastline. According to Rana's own statement in U.S. court, he "smiled and laughed" when Headley described the plan for attackers to infiltrate the city by boat and target the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Headley had also reportedly shared Lashkar's mock-up model of the hotel during their discussion.

In line with Headley’s testimony, U.S. investigators found that Rana agreed to provide a cover story by expanding his immigration services business—First World Immigration Services—to Mumbai. This allowed Headley to pose as the Regional Manager of the Mumbai branch, thus enabling his covert surveillance activities. Correspondence, including emails and other supporting documentation, corroborates that Rana instructed an associate within his company to fabricate documents in support of this narrative and to assist Headley in securing an Indian visa.

The NIA is now tracking individuals who were associated with Rana’s travel and immigration operations, suspecting that some of them may have had links to other Pakistan-based terror outfits. The agency is particularly focused on identifying those who processed Headley’s documentation or were aware of the true nature of his visits to India.

Testimony presented in U.S. courts further reveals that Headley attended multiple LeT training camps between 2002 and 2005. By late 2005, he had received directives from LeT handlers to begin surveillance operations in India. Over the next three years, he made five reconnaissance trips to the country, culminating in the coordinated terror strikes on Mumbai in November 2008 that left over 160 people dead and hundreds injured.

Investigators also noted that in mid-2006, Headley, in coordination with LeT operatives, conceptualized the opening of an immigration office in Mumbai to legitimize his presence in the city. Headley later traveled to Chicago to consult with Rana, a long-time friend from their school days in Pakistan, and secured his approval to establish a branch of First World Immigration Services in Mumbai for this purpose.

As the NIA’s probe intensifies, the agency is seeking cooperation from international counterparts to bring all those complicit in facilitating the Mumbai attacks to justice.