US court sets October 11 for hearing government's evidence in Tahawwur Rana case

A US court has set October 11 as the date for prosecution to present its case against Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani-American terror suspect and co-accused in the Mumbai attacks.

At a status hearing for Rana, in Chicago  yesterday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, the court set October 11 as the date for the government to present its evidence. The defence, on the other hand, will present its case on October 18.

Rana, 49, was accused along with LeT operative David Coleman Headley in a 12-count indictment and accused of providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba to carry out the Mumbai terror attacks.

Rana is also accused for plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper which published controversial cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

At Rana's status hearing the government moved its Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) Section 4 filing to October 11. CIPA filing relates to the motion related to classified evidence.

"We will present our CIPA section 5 filing on October 18," Rana's lawyer Patrick W Blegen and his co-counsel Charlie Swift, said.

The next official status hearing for the case is set for October 27.

The trial for Rana remains on track for February 14, 2011, as decided earlier by US district court judge Harry Leinenweber.

Rana was indicted by a federal grand jury on February 15 this year, while Headley had pleaded guilty in March to plotting the Mumbai carnage.