New Delhi/IBNS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2011 tweet blaming the then Congress-led UPA government over its foreign policy went viral after 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's extradition by the United States.

"US declaring Tahawwur Rana innocent in Mumbai attack has disgraced the sovereignty of India & it is a “major foreign policy setback," read the post on Twitter (now X) by Modi, who was then the Gujarat Chief Minister.

Rana, a 64-year-old Pakistan-born Canadian national, had been in judicial custody in the US before the proceedings under the India-US Extradition Treaty began to send him to India to face trials.

After Rana was extradited to India where he reached on Thursday, Modi's 2011 tweet has been lauded by netizens for the Prime Minister's persistence.

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday sent Rana to 18-day custody, hours after he arrived in India following his extradition from the US.

Rana landed in New Delhi on Thursday evening on a special flight and was arrested by the probe agency upon his arrival.

In a statement, the NIA said it secured his extradition after years of sustained and concerted efforts to bring the key conspirator behind the 2008 mayhem to justice.

"Rana was being held in judicial custody in the US pursuant to proceedings initiated under the India-US Extradition Treaty for his extradition. The extradition finally came through after Rana exhausted all legal avenues to stay the move," the NIA said in a statement.

Rana, a known associate of Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, is accused of facilitating the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that left 166 dead.

Headley, who turned approver, testified in a US court that Rana helped him conduct reconnaissance of key targets in Mumbai between 2007 and 2008.

Though Rana was acquitted in the US in 2011 of direct involvement in the 26/11 attacks, he was convicted of providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba and aiding a terror plot in Denmark.

About 26/11

The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11, were a series of terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terrorist organisation based in Pakistan, carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai.

Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai Chabad House, The Oberoi Trident, The Taj Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, The Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and in a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College.