New Delhi, April 11, 2025 – Tahawwur Rana, extradited to India Thursday for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, chillingly told co-conspirator David Coleman Headley that “Indians deserved it” and pushed for Pakistan’s highest gallantry award, Nishan-e-Haider, for the nine Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists killed in the siege, per a US Department of Justice (DoJ) bombshell statement. Intercepted post-attack chats reveal Rana’s cold approval of the 60-hour assault that claimed 166 lives, including six Americans.
Rana, 64, landed in Delhi at 2 AM, shackled and flanked by US Marshals, handed to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for an 18-day grilling (Hindustan Times). A Pakistan-born Canadian, he bankrolled Headley’s Mumbai recces via his Chicago firm, plotting with LeT and ISI heavies like Hafiz Saeed and Major Iqbal (The Indian Express). “They should get Nishan-e-Haider,” Rana allegedly said, per the DoJ, praising the gunmen who hit Taj Mahal Palace, CST, and more—nine fell, one, Ajmal Kasab, hanged in 2012.
The NIA’s got him at HQ now, probing those 231 calls with Headley and sniffing for Pakistan’s deeper hand—Islamabad’s mum so far (Times of India). “He’s no small fry—knew every move,” an NIA source said. Headley, jailed 35 years in the US, turned witness; Rana’s 2013 US conviction for LeT support didn’t touch 26/11—India’s extradition win does. Posts trending on X scream fury: “Hang him now!”
