‘Deserter’-turned-‘trusted asset’ of Pakistan Army, Tahawwur Rana reveals how he helped plot 26/11 Mumbai attacks

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian national and former Pakistan Army captain extradited to India on April 10 for his role in the deadly 26/11 attacks in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, has revealed during questioning in National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody that he was a “trusted agent” of the Pakistani Army and played an active role in planning the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. ⁠Rana has also admitted to knowing Pakistani officials Sajid Mir, Abdul Rehman Pasha, and Major Iqbal, all accused of planning the Mumbai attacks and of having actively coordinated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Pakistani spy agency ISI.
Rana told investigators that he inspected places like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and believed that the 26/11 attacks were carried out in collaboration with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Rana also admitted that he visited India in November 2008 and stayed at a hotel in Mumbai’s Powai area on the 20th and 21st, days before the terror attacks, and left for Beijing via Dubai just before the strike.

Helped David Coleman Headley identify key targets

64-year-old Rana also revealed that he helped David Coleman Headley identify key targets such as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, said sources in the Mumbai Police crime branch.

Rana, one of the key conspirators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, has admitted that he and his childhood friend David Coleman Headley attended many training sessions with the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Rana is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail and has been interrogated by the NIA and the Mumbai Crime Branch.

He further claimed he was a “trusted asset” of the Pakistan Army and had also been sent on a covert mission to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War on instructions from the Pakistani army.

Rana was declared ‘deserter’ by Pak Army

Rana told investigators that he completed his MBBS from the Army Medical College in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 1986 and was commissioned as a Captain doctor in the Pakistani Army in Quetta. He was posted in sensitive regions like Sindh, Balochistan, Bahawalpur, and Siachen-Balotra. During his Siachen posting, Rana developed pulmonary oedema, a condition that causes a fluid buildup in the lungs, leading to absence from duty and was consequently declared a “deserter” by Pakistan Army.

Rana had shared earlier that he agreed to be part of the terror plot because Headley had assured that he would help clean Rana’s records.

Charged alongwith LeT and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami operatives

The NIA has charged Rana with conspiring alongside LeT and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) operatives—both banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)—and other Pakistan-based handlers.

On 26 November, 2008, ten Pakistani terrorists carried out a series of attacks across Mumbai that resulted in the deaths of 166 people, including civilians, foreign nationals, and security personnel.

The terrorists targeted prominent landmarks like the Taj Hotel, the Oberoi Hotel, the Jewish Centre and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus during a nearly 60-hour-long siege.