Also indicted on conspiracy charges related to the Denmark plot were Ilyas Kashmiri, an alleged terror kingpin in Pakistan, and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, a retired major in the Pak military.
Pakistani-born Tahawwur Hussain Rana was indicted on Thursday along with David Coleman Headley by a United States grand jury for having a direct role in the terror attacks in Mumbai last year.
Headley had been slapped with a 12-count indictment on December 7 but the jury expanded allegations on Thursday against Rana in a wider terrorism investigation than he faced in October when he was arrested.
The 12-count superseding indictment filed against Headley adds Rana as a defendant in three of the counts charging material support of the terrorism plots in Denmark and India, as well as in support of the LeT.
The new indictment raises the legal stakes for Rana, a Canadian living in Chicago. Rana’s attorney, Patrick Blegen, maintains Rana is a legitimate businessman who was duped by Headley. But federal prosecutors contend Rana is a “moneyed behind-the-scenes fixer for a ring of Pakistani terrorists”.
Court records show Headley and Rana surveyed the four places that the terrorists targeted in Mumbai -- The Taj and Trident hotels, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Nariman House.
Prosecutors told DNA that the new charges against Rana carry a maximum punishment of life in prison on conviction. Rana’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks became apparent they said when co-defendant Headley began co-operating with the investigation.
Both travelled to case out Indian targets in the run-up to the Mumbai attacks in 2008. Headley is charged with 12 counts. Six of them charge a conspiracy to murder and maim people in India and provide material support to the LeT. The maximum sentence is death penalty.
Also indicted were Ilyas Kashmiri, an influential terrorist organisation leader in Pakistan who is alleged to be in regular contact with al Qaeda leaders, and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), a retired major in the Pakistani military.
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