The barrack number 12 at the high-security Arthur Road Jail has been readied to lodge Tahawwur Hussain Rana as and when he is brought to Mumbai upon his extradition from the United States for prosecution in the 26/11 attacks case.
A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) is currently in the United States to get the custody of Rana who is being brought to India for prosecution in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed and 300 others injured.
Sixty-four-year-old Rana, who is of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. He is a close aide of the Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, who was also wanted by India for the 26/11 attacks, carried out by 10 heavily armed Pakistan terrorists.
Rana’s impending extradition follows the dismissal of his review petition challenging his extradition to India, in January this year and it comes on the heels of the US Supreme Court’s denying his application seeking a stay on his extradition to India earlier this month.
Upon his extradition to India, Rana may initially be questioned by the NIA at its headquarters in New Delhi. During his stay in the capital, he will in all likelihood be lodged at the high-security Tihar jail.
As and when he is shifted from New Delhi to Mumbai after his questioning by the NIA, Rana will be lodged at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Prison, which is a facility to house under-trial prisoners.
The barrack number 12, where Rana may be lodged while in Mumbai, is located in an isolated area at the one end of the jail. An old ground-plus one building, this barrack is separated from the rest of the jail by a high wall.
In all likelihood, Rana’s trial will be held at a make-shift court room at the Arthur Road Prison, which is located near Saat Rasta-Jacob Circle. In fact, it is located between the Western Railway’s Mahalaxmi station and Central Railways’ Chinchpokli station.
It may be recalled that the main trial of the 1993 serial blasts case was held in a barrack inside the high security Arthur Road jail in Mumbai. After the main trial of the 1993 serial blasts case was completed, the facility was refurbished and it was the place where Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani fidayeen arrested during the 26/11 attacks was lodged.
It is a bullet-proof, bomb-proof facility, which is in the vicinity of a building where the 26/11 trial court used to be located. One of the reasons for lodging Rana at the Arthur Road jail is that he will be tried at a make-shift courtroom there itself.
Built in 1926, Arthur Road jail – also known as the Mumbai Central Prison — is spread over two acres. Meant originally for accommodating 800 prisoners, the up-graded prison currently accommodates more than 2900 inmates. It is an over-crowded facility far exceeding its capacity in terms of space, sanitation and other facilities.