Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 14-year-old post on X on Tahawwur Rana, accused of plotting the 26/11 terror attacks, has gone viral as the latter was extradited from the US and reached Delhi on Thursday evening. PM Modi, in his 2011 post, had criticised the previous Congress-led government’s foreign policy after the US “disgraced the sovereignty of India” by declaring Rana “innocent”.
In 2011, a US court had cleared Rana of a direct role in helping plot the attacks that killed 166 people, but convicted him for supporting a terrorist group blamed for the attacks.
“US declaring Tahawwur Rana innocent in Mumbai attack has disgraced the sovereignty of India & it is a “major foreign policy setback”,” PM Modi’s post read.
US declaring Tahawwur Rana innocent in Mumbai attack has disgraced the sovereignty of India & it is a “major foreign policy setback”
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 10, 2011
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Social media users shared the post and praised PM Modi for successfully extraditing Rana to India to face the law.
“A leader who walks the talk. Captain my captain,” one user wrote.
Another said, “You did it sir!! Kudos and thank you!”
Many users echoed the term “Modi hai toh mumkin hai” (If there’s PM Modi, everything is possible) on the post.
During PM Modi’s visit to the US in February this year, President Donald Trump had confirmed the extradition of Rana to India.
A special flight carrying Rana landed in Delhi last evening, soon after he exhausted all legal avenues to stop his extradition. He was sent to the custody of the anti-terror National Investigation Agency (NIA) for 18 days.
Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, had earlier worked as a doctor for the Pakistan Army. He is facing charges for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which over 160 people died. According to officials, he was aware of the terror attack and was in contact with the terrorist groups and their leaders in Pakistan.
Rana’s involvement in the conspiracy behind the 26/11 attacks was revealed by his childhood friend and a key accused in the case, David Coleman Headley – who said he was in constant touch with Rana and even took his permission to open a business office in Mumbai as a front for his activities. During interrogation, Headley had revealed that he had travelled to India five times between 2007 and 2008 and done recce for the Mumbai attacks – using a five-year visa that Rana had helped him obtain. He also revealed the role of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the Mumbai attacks and said he had opened an immigration company to hide his identity with Rana’s help.
Rana had also visited Mumbai with his wife and stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel, which became a target of the attacks.
In 2013, Rana was sentenced to 14 years in jail but was released in 2020 on health grounds. He was re-arrested later that year after India’s extradition request.