Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key figure in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, has made startling disclosures to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, admitting he was a trusted operative of the Pakistan Army and was present in Mumbai during the 2008 attacks. Extradited from the United States to India on April 10, 2025, after the US Supreme Court rejected his extradition review plea on April 4, Rana is now facing trial for his role in the attacks that killed at least 166 people across Mumbai, including at the Taj Hotel.

During interrogations under the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Rana revealed to the Mumbai Crime Branch that he was sent to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War as part of a covert mission for the Pakistan Army. He also disclosed that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the terrorist group behind the attacks, was initially established as an espionage network. Rana further claimed that his associate, David Coleman Headley, an LeT operative, underwent multiple terrorist training sessions with the banned group and that he himself conducted reconnaissance of several Mumbai locations prior to the 2008 attacks. He confirmed being in the city when LeT-linked terrorists struck the Taj Hotel.

Rana’s involvement included aiding Headley in obtaining a visa by creating a false identity, enabling Headley to travel to India and survey targets under the direction of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed. The NIA has charged Rana with conspiring with Headley to execute the attacks.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a central figure in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks extradited to India after prolonged diplomatic efforts, has disclosed critical details about the 2008 terror plot that killed over 170 people. Reports say Rana, 64, revealed during interrogation how he assisted David Coleman Headley, the attack’s mastermind, in scouting key targets like Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

Rana, who completed an MBBS at Pakistan’s Army Medical College in Rawalpindi in 1986, served as a captain doctor in the Pakistani Army, stationed in areas like Sindh, Balochistan, Bahawalpur, and Siachen-Balotra. While in Siachen, he developed pulmonary edema, leading to his absence from duty and being labeled a deserter. Rana claimed he joined the terror plot after Headley promised to clear his military record.

Rana also disclosed that the Pakistani military, which supported the terrorists, entrusted him with a covert mission to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. He later lived in Germany, the UK, and the US before settling in Canada, where he ran businesses in meat processing, real estate, and groceries.

The Headley Connection

Rana and Headley were schoolmates at Cadet College Hasan Abdal from 1974 to 1979. Headley, born to a Pakistani father and American mother, moved to the US after disputes with his stepmother. Rana stated that Headley attended three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) training camps between 2003 and 2004 and described LeT as operating more like a spy network than an ideological group.

Rana’s Role in 26/11

According to the NIA chargesheet, Headley posed as a representative of the Immigrant Law Centre, a company Rana admitted to establishing as a front for terrorist surveillance. A woman managed the firm, which facilitated reconnaissance in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pushkar, Goa, and Pune. Rana visited Mumbai on November 20-21, 2008, staying at a Powai hotel before leaving for Beijing via Dubai just before the attacks.

A 2023 supplementary chargesheet by the Mumbai Police crime branch confirms Rana aided Headley in gathering intelligence on high-traffic sites like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Fourteen witnesses have corroborated his involvement. When questioned about forged Indian documents used by the terrorists, Rana deflected blame to the Indian Embassy, though investigations show he facilitated Headley’s entry into India with fake documents.