Lawyer who led 26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana extradition process to lead his prosecution in India
Krishnan graduated from NLSIU, Bengaluru in 1993 and worked with senior advocate and former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde following which he set up his own practice in 1999
A security personnel guards outside the National Investigation Agency headauarters in New Delhi (PTI)
NEW DELHI: Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, who led India's arguments for the extradition of 26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana in a US court, is set to lead the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) prosecution in Delhi.
Rana, a close associate of 26/11 main conspirator David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen, is learnt to be on his way to India after the US Supreme Court on April 4 dismissed his review plea against his extradition to India.
Krishnan graduated from NLSIU, Bengaluru in 1993 and worked with senior advocate and former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde following which he set up his own practice in 1999.
He was the second NLSIU alumnus to be designated a senior advocate by the Delhi High Court in 2014. He has worked on several high-profile case such as the 2001 Parliament attack, Kaveri River water dispute, telecommunication cases, among others.
Krishnan was the special public prosecutor in the December 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case. In the past, he has represented the Centre, NIA, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Delhi government and Delhi Police in several high profile cases.
He represented the Government of India for the extradition of Ravi Shankaran from the UK in 2011 and was the special counsel for the National Investigation Agency comprising a four-member team that visited Chicago to interrogate 26/11 attacks mastermind David Coleman Headly.
Krishnan, who has been associated with the extradition proceedings since 2010, will have assistance from Special Prosecutor Narender Mann, a seasoned criminal lawyer, who has earlier represented the CBI in the Delhi High Court.
Mann graduated from Delhi University in 1990 and has represented the CBI and appeared in several important matters, including attempt on life of former CJI A N Ray by Ananda Margis.
He was the Special Public Prosecutor for the CBI in the Delhi High Court between January, 2011 and April, 2019.
As the CBI counsel, Mann handled criminal appeals, writ petitions, criminal revision petitions, quashing petitions, and criminal miscellaneous cases.
Aside from Margis' case, Mann represented the CBI in a Medical Council scam, AICTE scam, the CWG cases, CGHS societies scam and cases under FCRA, Prevention of Corruption Act, and banking frauds.
He also appeared in cases including Jain-diary Hawala case, the JMM MPs case, Bofors case, and cooperative society cases.
The prosecution team will also comprise advocates Sanjeevi Sheshadri and Sridhar Kale aside from the NIA counsel, it is learnt.
The turning point in the extradition case came in May 2023. Rana's trial had begun in 2018.
"The most important decision of his extradition came on May 16, 2023, being the first judgment by the Magistrate Judge, US District Court of Central District of California," said a source close to the extradition proceedings.
The Magistrate Court while allowing the extradition confirmed Krishnan's opinion -- he argued that Rana's case was not of double jeopardy.
The proceedings, the source said, saw a spirited legal fight between Krishnan and another extradition veteran Paul Garlick QC, who was representing Rana.
Garlick, the source said, argued that it was a case of double jeopardy. Krishnan, on the contrary, argued that an accused's conduct didn't determine the circumstances but the elements of the crime.
Double jeopardy, in legal parlance, means an accused being punished twice for the same offence or crime.
The submissions of Krishnan, who represented the government of India along with the US Department of Justice, were accepted by the court.
The second crucial milestone for the Indian government came when Rana's appeal was dismissed by a US District Judge on August 10, 2023.
Following the dismissal of his appeal, Rana moved the US Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, but was faced with another setback for his plea was rejected on August 15, 2024, the source said.
Rana, 64, a Pakistan-born Canadian national, then moved the US Supreme Court, which denied him any reprieve on January 21, 2025.
Finally, on April 4, the US Supreme Court dismissed the review plea filed by Rana as a last-ditch attempt, finally paving the way for his extradition, the source added.
On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went on a rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack in Mumbai's CST, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, after they sneaked into India's financial capital using the sea route in the Arabian Sea. The three-day terror siege killed 166 people.
