In a high-stakes move that underscores the gravity of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack trial, the central government has deployed its top legal arsenal. Leading the charge: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, now officially appointed to helm the special public prosecutor team tasked with pursuing the case against Tahawwur Rana, the man accused of facilitating one of India’s darkest terror chapters.
Joining Mehta on this formidable front are Additional Solicitor General SV Raju and veteran legal minds Dayan Krishnan and Narender Mann. This elite group will represent the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in proceedings before special courts in Delhi, the Delhi High Court, and the Supreme Court.
The man at the centre of this legal storm, Tahawwur Rana, was extradited to India from the United States just weeks ago. Now in judicial custody until June 6, the Pakistani-origin Canadian-American faces a barrage of charges linked to the meticulously coordinated 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 dead and hundreds wounded.
Born in Pakistan in 1961, Rana once served as a doctor in the Pakistani Army before relocating to Canada in the 1990s. He later became a U.S. citizen and, according to Indian investigators, maintained disturbing ties with the orchestrators of the Mumbai siege. Chief among them: David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani-American operative who scouted locations for the attacks and is now imprisoned in the U.S.
Headley’s testimony painted Rana as a linchpin—allegedly offering both funding and logistical support. Indian intelligence agencies have gone further, linking Rana to the Pakistani Army, its notorious intelligence wing ISI, and the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the outfit that masterminded the carnage.
With this new legal task force, India appears intent on sending a message: the long shadow of 26/11 won’t be forgotten—and accountability will be pursued with unflinching resolve.
