NIA Interrogation: Rana May Reveal Details on Ishrat Jahan's 2004 Plot to Assassinate PM Modi
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Synopsis
The NIA's ongoing interrogation of Tahawwur Rana, a key player in the 26/11 attacks, may uncover critical insights into the 2004 assassination plot involving Ishrat Jahan against PM Modi. Investigators aim to extract vital details about various Lashkar-e-Taiba operations and sleeper cells active before 2014.
Key Takeaways
- Tahawwur Rana is being interrogated by the NIA regarding multiple terror plots.
- Rana may provide insights into the 2004 Ishrat Jahan assassination attempt on Modi.
- David Coleman Headley has confirmed Ishrat Jahan's involvement with LeT.
- The 2004 attack on Modi was labeled as a “fake encounter” by the UPA government.
- NIA is also investigating LeT's sleeper cells active before 2014.
New Delhi, April 13 (NationPress) The current interrogation of Tahawwur Rana, a pivotal figure in the 26/11 attacks, is expected to delve deeper than the 2008 incident, potentially uncovering other Lashkar-e-Taiba terror schemes, notably the thwarted 2004 suicide mission against Narendra Modi, who was the chief minister of Gujarat at the time and is now the Prime Minister of India.
The NIA authorities aim to question Rana regarding the Gujarat module, as he had aligned with LeT around the period when the assassination attempt was thwarted. Investigators suspect that Rana could provide vital insights into the individuals within the plot targeting Modi in 2004.
On June 15, 2004, the Gujarat Police reported that Ishrat Jahan, along with three accomplices, was shot dead near Ahmedabad by a team from the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) of the Ahmedabad City Police. The group was allegedly on a mission to eliminate the then Chief Minister Modi.
The NIA interrogators have significant reasons to believe that Rana possesses important information regarding the Ishrat Jahan-led conspiracy, possibly obtained from his associate David Coleman Headley, who was an operative for the Pakistan-based terror organization around 2004.
Headley, who had joined LeT a few years before Rana, confirmed to US law enforcement that Ishrat Jahan was affiliated with LeT and was assigned to assassinate Modi.
Although the attempt on Ishrat Jahan's life was thwarted in 2004, Headley later collaborated with Rana to orchestrate the 2008 Mumbai attack, which resulted in 166 fatalities, including six US citizens.
In addition to questioning Rana about the 26/11 events, NIA officials hope to extract essential information pertaining to LeT's various plots and sleeper cells that were operational prior to 2014, including the Ishrat Jahan module.
Following the neutralization of the Ishrat Jahan module in Gujarat in 2004, there was an alleged effort by the then UPA government to label the incident as a “fake encounter” to settle political scores with then Chief Minister Modi.
