A United States court on Wednesday approved the extradition of Pakistan-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana to India in connection with the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, reported PTI.

Rana, who was arrested in 2009, had challenged India’s extradition request and filed a plea against it in the US court on November 25, 2020. In 2011, he was convicted in the United States for providing material support to terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. However, he was found not guilty of conspiracy charges in connection with 2008 Mumbai attack.

On November 26, 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists took a sea route from Pakistan to Mumbai and carried out a dozen coordinated shooting and bombing attacks at various major landmarks across the city. The attacks resulted in the deaths of 166 persons, including 26 foreigners.

Indian authorities have alleged that Rana conspired with his childhood friend David Coleman Headley to assist the Lashkar-e-Taiba in the orchestration of the Mumbai attacks.

The prosecutors in the case also said that Rana’s immigration law centre in Chicago, as well as a branch office in Mumbai, was allegedly used as a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba’s terrorism activities between 2006 and 2008.

On May 16, judge Jacqueline Chooljian said that Rana has been charged in India with waging war against the State, committing terrorist acts and murder, among other provisions. She noted that all of the offences are extraditable ones as per the treaty between the United States and India.

“It is therefore ordered that Tahawwur Hussain Rana be and remain committed to the custody of the United States Marshal pending a final decision on extradition and surrender by the Secretary of State to India for trial of the offences as to which extradition has been granted pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, section 3186 and the Treaty,” the judge ruled.