Chicago:
Pakistani-Canadian LeT operative Tahawwur Hussain Rana appeared in a court in Chicago for his arraignment and pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiring to provide material support to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and a terror plot in Denmark.
Rana remains detained in federal custody.
Meanwhile, speaking exclusively to NDTV, Rana's father-in-law, Rana M Akhtar, says he Tahawwur Rana was framed. He's confident that justice will prevail and Rana will be freed because he's innocent.
Rana M Akhtar: His grandmother died and so he went to Pakistan. Since he was there he said that he may as well go to India and so he applied for a visa and then he got one so he went. Once there, he decided to visit the Taj. So what is wrong with that? Everybody wants to see the Taj. It was closed because it was Friday and so he had to stay the night and now the Indian press has gone and harassed our family in India asking them all sorts of questions about Rana.
Q: Do you know Hadley?
A: I don't know Headley personally but I have seen him. His wife comes here to our store. All I know is that Rana is innocent. I don't know how this happened, was he duped? Did some one leave the DVDs in his house? Was he cheated? Probably. He is very honest and god fearing. He will share his last morsel with a man in need. I do not know how he got involved in all this. All my five kids are doctors and they are all honest. They have never even smoked a cigarette. I don't know how this happened.
Q: But the government has a strong case against Mr Rana?
A: You keep attending the court cases so you know what is going on.
Q: So you are confident?
A: Absolutely.
Rana, clad in an orange prison jumpsuit with his hands and legs shackled, appeared before US Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys and entered a plea of not guilty to the three counts of charges against him in the superseding indictment returned on January 14 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
During the arraignment that lasted about five minutes, Pakistani-Canadian Rana was informed about the charges against him and that he faces a potential life sentence. He took an oath before pleading not guilty.
Rana, 49, responded briefly when the judge asked him to spell out his full name, age and date of birth and whether he understood the charges against him.
He has been in the Metropolitan Correctional Centre since his arrest in October last year and will remain detained in federal custody. A status hearing has been scheduled for February 24 before US District Judge Harry Leinenweber.
Rana and his childhood friend David Coleman Headley, also arrested by the FBI, have been indicted on charges of plotting the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 that killed 166 people, including six Americans. (With PTI inputs)
Rana remains detained in federal custody.
Meanwhile, speaking exclusively to NDTV, Rana's father-in-law, Rana M Akhtar, says he Tahawwur Rana was framed. He's confident that justice will prevail and Rana will be freed because he's innocent.
Rana M Akhtar: His grandmother died and so he went to Pakistan. Since he was there he said that he may as well go to India and so he applied for a visa and then he got one so he went. Once there, he decided to visit the Taj. So what is wrong with that? Everybody wants to see the Taj. It was closed because it was Friday and so he had to stay the night and now the Indian press has gone and harassed our family in India asking them all sorts of questions about Rana.
Q: Do you know Hadley?
A: I don't know Headley personally but I have seen him. His wife comes here to our store. All I know is that Rana is innocent. I don't know how this happened, was he duped? Did some one leave the DVDs in his house? Was he cheated? Probably. He is very honest and god fearing. He will share his last morsel with a man in need. I do not know how he got involved in all this. All my five kids are doctors and they are all honest. They have never even smoked a cigarette. I don't know how this happened.
Q: But the government has a strong case against Mr Rana?
A: You keep attending the court cases so you know what is going on.
Q: So you are confident?
A: Absolutely.
Rana, clad in an orange prison jumpsuit with his hands and legs shackled, appeared before US Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys and entered a plea of not guilty to the three counts of charges against him in the superseding indictment returned on January 14 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
During the arraignment that lasted about five minutes, Pakistani-Canadian Rana was informed about the charges against him and that he faces a potential life sentence. He took an oath before pleading not guilty.
Rana, 49, responded briefly when the judge asked him to spell out his full name, age and date of birth and whether he understood the charges against him.
He has been in the Metropolitan Correctional Centre since his arrest in October last year and will remain detained in federal custody. A status hearing has been scheduled for February 24 before US District Judge Harry Leinenweber.
Rana and his childhood friend David Coleman Headley, also arrested by the FBI, have been indicted on charges of plotting the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 that killed 166 people, including six Americans. (With PTI inputs)
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