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The United States has long supported India’s efforts to ensure those responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attacks are brought to justice, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said April 10, a day after Tahawwur Rana arrived in India to face justice for his role in planning the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.

“On April 9, the United States extradited Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India to face justice for his role in planning the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.  These attacks resulted in the tragic loss of 166 lives, including six Americans, and shocked the entire world,” Rubio said in a statement.

“The United States has long supported India’s efforts to ensure those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice.  As President Trump has said, the United States and India will continue to work together to combat the global scourge of terrorism,” said the top American diplomat.   

Rana, 64, was extradited to India at the request of the Indian Government.

Also Read: Tahawwur Rana extradited from US lands in India

In 2013, Rana was sentenced to 14 years in prison following his trial conviction in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiring to provide material support to LeT and to a foiled LeT-sponsored terrorist plot in Copenhagen, Denmark. As part of those same criminal proceedings, his co-conspirator David Headley pleaded guilty to 12 federal terrorism charges, including aiding and abetting the murders of the six Americans in Mumbai and later planning to attack a Danish newspaper, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

In June 2020, the United States acted on a request for Rana’s extradition submitted by India, which Rana contested for almost five years. On May 16, 2023, a US magistrate judge in the Central District of California certified Rana’s extradition to India. Rana then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which the US District Court in the Central District of California denied on August 10, 2023.

On August 15, 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that decision. The Supreme Court likewise denied Rana’s petition for certiorari on January 21, 2025. The Secretary of State issued a warrant ordering Rana’s surrender to Indian authorities. The district court and the Ninth Circuit denied Rana’s application for a stay of extradition, and on April 7, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Rana’s application for a stay of extradition.

On April 9, the US Marshals Service executed a surrender warrant by surrendering Rana to Indian authorities for transportation to India. “Rana’s extradition is now complete,” the Department of Justice said. Rana stands trial in India on 10 criminal charges stemming from his alleged role in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

We extradited Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India to face charges for his role in planning the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Together, with India, we've long sought justice for the 166 people, including 6 Americans, who lost their lives in these attacks. I'm glad that day…

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) April 11, 2025

Rana is charged in India with numerous offenses, including conspiracy, murder, commission of a terrorist act, and forgery, related to his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks committed by Laskhar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Between November 26 and 29, 2008, ten LeT terrorists carried out a series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai. They infiltrated the city by sea and then broke into teams, dispersing to multiple locations. Attackers at a train station fired guns and threw grenades into crowds. Attackers at two restaurants shot indiscriminately at patrons, the Department of Justice said.

“Attackers at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel gunned people down and detonated explosives. Attackers also shot and killed people at a Jewish community center. When the terror finally subsided, 166 victims, including six Americans, were dead, along with all but one of the LeT terrorists. Hundreds more were injured, and Mumbai sustained more than $1.5 billion in property damage. The attacks were among the most horrific and catastrophic in India’s history,” it said.

India, the US statement said, alleges that Rana facilitated a fraudulent cover so that his childhood friend David Coleman Headley (Headley), a US citizen born Daood Gilani, could freely travel to Mumbai for the purpose of conducting surveillance of potential attack sites for LeT.

As India alleges, Headley had received training from LeT members in Pakistan and was in direct communication with LeT about plans to attack Mumbai. Among other things, Rana allegedly agreed to open a Mumbai branch of his immigration business and appoint Headley as the manager of the office, despite Headley’s having no immigration experience.

On two separate occasions, Rana allegedly helped Headley prepare and submit visa applications to Indian authorities that contained information Rana knew to be false.

Rana also allegedly supplied, through his unsuspecting business partner, documentation in support of Headley’s attempt to secure formal approval from Indian authorities to open a branch office of Rana’s business.

Over the course of more than two years, Headley allegedly repeatedly met with Rana in Chicago and described his surveillance activities on behalf of LeT, LeT’s responses to Headley’s activities, and LeT’s potential plans for attacking Mumbai, the Department of Justice said.

After the attacks were complete, Rana allegedly told Headley that the Indians “deserved it.” In an intercepted conversation with Headley, Rana allegedly commended the nine LeT terrorists who had been killed committing the attacks, saying that “[t]hey should be given Nishan-e-Haider”—Pakistan’s “highest award for gallantry in battle,” which is reserved for fallen soldiers.