India, US authorities working frantically to expedite Tahawwur Rana's extradition

New Delhi, Jan 14: The Indian and the US authorities are working frantically to ensure that Tahawwur Hussain Rana, an accused in the Mumbai 26/11 attack who is seving jail term in the US, is extradited to India before his current jail term ends, said reports.

The Indian government, with "full co-operation" from the Trump administration, is currently working on completing the necessary paperwork, said a PTI report. Rana, who was arrested in 2009, is currently serving a 14 year jail term in the US for providing material support to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, the outfit which carried out the Mumbai attack.

It was earlier reported that a team of the NIA was in the US recently to seek his extradition. An NIA source had told OneIndia that the extradition would take place. However, there is a process involved and it could take up to some time.

"There is a strong possibility of extradition of Rana to India on completion of his jail term here. We (US and India) are working on this," a source told PTI.

But the "challenge" is to complete the necessary paperwork during this period and overcome the cumbersome bureaucracy of the two countries and the independent judiciary, the source said, as pert the PTI report.

The NIA is expected to have direct communication with their US counterparts to cut short the timeframe and bureaucratic formalities.

Following a recent visit to the US by India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, officials from both sides have agreed to cut down on the bureaucratic procedures so that all the necessary paperwork is ready before the current jail term of Rana ends in December 2021.

In the US the double jeopardy clause prevents a punishment for the crime twice. Due to this, India renewed its bid to secure Rana's custody on the ground that he was involved in the planning of an attack on the National Defence College in New Delhi.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs