26/11: Rana’s Parkinson’s could be a ploy for feigning memory loss

NEW DELHI, (IANS): Given that Tahawwur Rana, a key conspirator of 26/11, was reluctant to stand trial in India, his interrogators in NIA suspect that the mention of Parkinson’s and 32 other diseases in his medical history could be a deliberate attempt to justify his fading memory to block direct answers related to the 17-year-old deadly terror attack.

Rana may appear or pretend to be sick and tired, but mentally, he is very alert and sharp, said an official, adding that he is being questioned on sleeper cells and funding of his operations and, visit to India before the Mumbai attack.

While NIA sleuths continue to question Rana for about three hours daily, he is also subjected to medical checks every 48 hours, said an official.

Rana’s stays in Delhi, Hapur and Agra in 2008 are being seen with suspicion by the NIA, whose sleuths want to extract information from him about his Indian aide, identified as “B”, and Indian relatives of his wife, Samraz Rana Akhtar, who accompanied him during his visit.

Rana had also visited Mumbai with his wife and stayed at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which became a target of the attack that killed 166 people. The couple also visited Kochi and Ahmedabad.

Investigators are now questioning him on whether these trips were part of a reconnaissance mission to carry out a Mumbai-like attack, aimed at attracting optimal international attention.

Sources said Rana’s high situational awareness and elaborate groundwork before landing in India can be gauged from his demand related to the appointment of defence lawyers, request to the judge for medical assistance and discussion with defence lawyers to raise the issue of his rights as an accused.

“He sought non-famous lawyers and asked the court to restrict them from talking to the media,” said a person privy to the court proceedings.

After the court deputed lawyers Piyush Sachdeva and Lakhshya Dheer, both from Legal Services Authority, he asked them to mention in court his rights, as an accused, under the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.

The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees several rights related to criminal procedures and property rights. It includes the right to a grand jury indictment for serious crimes, protection against double jeopardy, the privilege against self-incrimination, and the guarantee of due process before property can be taken for public use.

While opposing Rana’s extradition to India, his lawyers in the US had tried to raise the issue of his poor health and also questioned the logic behind making him stand trial for the second time (now in India), after he got acquitted of similar charges in the US.

His lawyer John D. Cline opposed his extradition, claiming, “Extraditing Rana to face the death penalty in India would set a shocking precedent that would call into question the finality of what has until now been sacrosanct: acquittal by a jury of ordinary American citizens following a full and fair trial.

NIA investigators may also try and take Rana to other cities, after taking permission of the court, indicated an official.

The 64-year-old Pakistani-Canadian and his 26/11 co-conspirator David Coleman Headley joined hands with Pakistan-based terrorist groups and ISI, executed the Mumbai attack that started on November 26, 2008 and lasted till November 29, leaving 166, including six US nationals, dead.

The terrorists who sailed into a fishermen’s colony in Mumbai on a boat fanned out in the city and conducted shooting and bombing at 12 different locations. They were carrying layout plans and blueprints of their four main targets – Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Taj Mahal Palace hotel, Oberoi Trident and Nariman House.