Tahawwur Rana had planned attacks on 1971 war veterans’ colony in Mumbai and Kumbh Melas

It was learned in the probe that followed over the years that Rana and David Headley had conspired to attack the residential complex.

Seventeen years after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Tahawwur Rana is now in India to face trial.

Rana, who had been imprisoned in the United States, was cleared for extradition by the US Department of State in February this year.

On Monday, the US Supreme Court dismissed his plea challenging the extradition.

According to India Today, citing former National Investigation Agency (NIA) Inspector General Loknath Behera, Rana had also plotted attacks at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar and the Pushkar Mela in Rajasthan.

Journalist and author Sandeep Unnithan, in his book Black Tornado, recounted that in 2010—two years after the attacks—residents of Jal Vayu Vihar witnessed a sudden deployment of a Mumbai police SWAT team and an armoured vehicle that remained stationed at the colony for nearly two years.

“In 2010, two years after the horrific Mumbai #26/11 attacks, residents of Jal Vayu Vihar, a housing colony for Air Force and Navy veterans in Mumbai, had a surprise visitor at their doorstep: a Mumbai police SWAT team and an armoured vehicle. That vehicle remained at their gate there for nearly two years. I soon found out why,” he said in a post on X.

Unnithan, whose parents lived in the colony, revealed that Jal Vayu Vihar had been a planned target of the 26/11 attacks.

“My parents lived in Jal Vayu Vihar (JVV). It turns out that JVV, was a 26/11 attack target. David Headley revealed this to the NIA team in 2010. Headley’s accomplice #TahawwurRana flew in from the US, and stayed at a hotel in Powai to recce the complex. But why JVV? Because many residents, including my father, were 1971 war veterans—one of them was in the Dhaka surrender ceremony photograph. Rana, an ex-Pak Army officer, told Headley he wanted to kill the veterans to avenge 1971,” he wrote.

He further explained that during the 1971 war, Pakistani Navy's SSG commandos had once planned a marine raid on Mumbai. “This naval special forces raid was aborted but carried out on 26/11 using the 10 SSG-trained LeT proxies,” he added.

Eventually, the plan to strike JVV was shelved due to logistical reasons.

“JVV was eventually ruled out because it was over 30 km north of the terrorist drop site in Cuffe Parade, S Mumbai. But over 160 other civilians were massacred by an attack blatantly conducted from across the border by the Pak Army’s ISI and its terrorist proxies. We felt helpless rage. It was our sheep state vs the Pak deep state. One reason I wrote #BlackTornado…” Unnithan said.

Reflecting on the present, he shared a family photograph and wrote, “We’re not a sheep state. Tahuwwur Rana is being bundled into a plane and being brought back to face trial in India. He will rot in jail. His deep state bosses in Pakistan are looking over their shoulders and under their beds.”

Celebrating personal resilience, Unnithan added, “And my father? He celebrated his 80th birthday recently. He chose the same hotel in Powai that Rana lived in. With his friends here (including Wing Cdr Krishnamurthy, from the 1971 surrender ceremony photo). The NSG Mumbai hub is just down the road.”

Rana is likely to be sent to Delhi’s Tihar Jail.