India Disappointed Over US Acquittal of Mumbai Terror Suspect

NEW DELHI—India expressed disappointment on Friday over a Chicago court’s acquittal of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

In a fractured verdict, the jury found Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian resident of Chicago, guilty on two other counts: providing material support to the Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and assisting in an abortive terror plot against the Danish newspaper that in 2005 printed cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.

At least 166 people, including six Americans, were killed and many wounded by Pakistan-based terrorists who arrived by sea and laid a three-day siege in India’s financial capital Mumbai, targeting luxury hotels, a Jewish center and other locations like railway station and hospital in Nov. 2008.

Nine of the 10 terrorists were killed by Indian commandos, ending the over 60-hour rampage that led to a breakdown in the peace talks between nuclear-armed neighbors, India and Pakistan.

The trial of the terror plot led to the doorsteps of U.S. businessman Rana and his childhood friend, Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley (formerly Daood Sayed Gilani)—one of the chief plotters of the Mumbai attack, according to India.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case against Headley, Rana, and others, said Friday it had decided to wait for the proceedings to conclude in the United States before filing a charge sheet in India against the accused. The agency has requested documents from the U.S. for review.

Rana’s lawyers have stated that they will file an appeal against the verdict, but it is not yet clear whether U.S. authorities will also file an appeal against the acquittal on one count of conspiracy.

In a statement issued by India’s Ministry of Home Affairs on the verdict, government took note of the evidence produce in the U.S. court including that “David Headley had advised Rana of his assignment to scout potential targets in India; that Headley obtained Rana’s consent to open an office of First World Immigration Services as a cover for his activities; that Rana advised Headley on how to obtain a visa for travel to India; and that Headley and Rana had reviewed how Headley had done surveillance of the targets that were attacked in Mumbai.”

"We are, therefore, disappointed that Rana was acquitted on the count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terrorist attacks. However, it must be remembered that Rana was tried in a US court in accordance with US law. Criminal trials in the US are jury trials and there are special rules governing such jury trials," the ministry said.

India, however, also stated that the acquittal should not be considered a setback.

"We don’t see the verdict as a setback. We have to rely on our own strength," U K Bansal, Secretary for Internal Security, told reporters in Delhi. He said India has to depend on the finding of its own agencies, but refused to divulge more details right now.

India, meanwhile, upped the ante on Pakistan saying its neighbor must seriously consider the findings of the trial, during which testimony from Headley implicated Pakistan’s military spy agency, ISI.

"Throughout the last few months when the trial was going on and in course of the evidence there were substantial linkages between these two who are facing trial [Rana and Headley] and the Mumbai attack,” said Indian External Affairs Minister Mr. S M Krishna.

"This is something which Pakistan must seriously consider. It is in the interest of the region," he said, adding that it is also in the bilateral interest of India and Pakistan.

"The conspiracy behind the Mumbai attack has to be investigated in a very transparent manner," said Krishna.

Sujoy Dhar is India correspondent for the Washington Times, a contributor to several foreign news agencies, and he heads the Indian news portal www.indiablooms.com, its wire service arm IBNS, and feature service Trans World Features.