Will be happy if Tahawwur Rana gets death sentence: Mumbai 26/11 terror attack eyewitness

Mumbai: A 24-year-old woman who was injured in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks on Thursday welcomed a US court's approval for the extradition of accused Tahawwur Rana to India, but said she will be happier if he is hanged to death or given a strict punishment.

Devika Natwarlal, who claimed to be youngest eyewitness to the attack in November 2008 when she was just nine years' old, said bringing Rana to India and keeping him in jail will not serve any purpose and more information should be gathered from him (about the terror attack).

Natwarlal said she was shot in the right leg and many people were killed in front of her at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) during the attack.

Rana is currently in the federal lockup in Los Angeles.

As many as 166 people, including six Americans, were killed during the attacks by the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in November 2008.

In a significant legal victory for India, a US court in California has approved the extradition of Rana to India where he is sought for his involvement in the horrific 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

US Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian of the District Court of the Central District of California released a 48-page order on Wednesday, saying 62-year-old Rana "should be extradited to India" under the extradition treaty between India and the United States.

Recalling the incident, Natwarlal said, "I was shot in the terror attack. Many people were killed in front of me. I have come to know that Rana will be brought to India. I am happy, but I’ll be happier only if he is hanged to death or strict action is taken against him."

Bringing him here and keeping him in jail will not do anything, she said, adding that information (pertaining to the terror attack) should come out from him.

"He (Rana) knew the attack was going to happen and people would be shot...ten terrorists come to our city and open fire," she said.

The woman said such a terrorist, who along with David Headley (Lashkar-e-Taiba operative) masterminded the plan (for the terror attack), should be punished.

"He should be punished, and punished in a way that no one tries to do something like this in our country or elsewhere," she added.