Terror suspect Rana conned Indian consulate for visa

New Delhi: The Indian consulate in Chicago was allegedly negligent in issuing visas to Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the Pakistan-born Canadian citizen accused of planning a terrorist attack on a Danish newspaper, an internal investigation has found.

The consulate last year issued multi-entry visas to Rana and his wife Samraz Rana Akhtar for a period of five years, enabling them to visit Mumbai and other places in India days before the terror attacks on the country’s financial capital year.

PTI on Sunday claimed unnamed official sources had told it that an internal investigation has found that the residential address provided by the couple in their visa applications was fictitious. An immigration services company, where Rana claimed to have worked, has told Indian authorities that he was never an employee and it did not have a branch in Mumbai.

The visas were allegedly issued "under the discretion of the Consul General" (of India in Chicago) though the Union Home Ministry’s guidelines says its clearance is needed for granting travel documents to persons born in Pakistan. Rana was born in Chichawatni and his wife was born in Bahawalpur, both in Pakistan's Punjab province.

The couple were even exempted from registering with the Indian police if their stay did not exceed 180 days.

Senior government officials told PTI according to a circular in 2004 visa applications of people of Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh origin should be referred to the Union Home Ministry for clearance. However, the circular gave discretion to Indian ambassadors and consuls general to give visas to nationals of these countries.

The Indian consulate in Chicago had last week said that it had done "due scrutiny" before issuing visas to Rana and his wife.

The consulate did not reply to e-mailed questions from PTI about the internal investigation. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has publicly committed that the government would investigate how visas were given to Rana and his wife.

Rana and his wife arrived in Mumbai on November 12 last year after which they travelled to Kochi in Kerala on November 16.

Rana and his friend David Headley, a Pakistani-origin American citizen, were arrested last month by the FBI on charges of being part of a plan by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) to carry out terror attacks in India and Denmark.