Rana, whose ankles were shackled, wore a white jumpsuit and black glasses, also as a mask at the hearing, consistent with AP. Rana’s two daughters attended the hearing. They declined to comment, as did his lawyers.
India alleges that Rana conspired together with his childhood friend David Coleman Headley to help the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba within the orchestration of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people, including six Americans, and injured quite 200.
Prosecutors say Rana’s immigration law centre in Chicago, also as a satellite office in Mumbai, was allegedly used as a front for his or her terrorism activities between 2006 and 2008. Rana’s attorneys said their client wasn't conscious of Headley’s terrorism plot and was merely trying to assist his childhood friend and found out a Mumbai office .
They also said Headley may be a serial liar who has deceived the United States government multiple times in several criminal cases and his testimony shouldn't be viewed as credible. The attorneys alleged that Headley had used Rana to further his terrorism efforts without Rana’s knowledge.
Headley, 60, was made an approver within the case, and is currently serving a 35-year sentence within the US for his role within the attack. Rana has opposed his extradition to India, arguing that he has already been convicted by a US court in Chicago.
US prosecutors, however, did not prove that Rana had directly supported the Mumbai attacks. Rana’s defense attorneys, in court papers, say because he has been acquitted of the Mumbai-related charges within the US, extraditing him to India would be tantamount to prosecution .
Ajmal Kasab was the sole one among the ten terrorists who survived and went unproved . Kasab was convicted, sentenced to death in India and hanged.
