NEW DELHI: The probe team is planning to collect the voice sample of Tahawwur Rana, the extradited mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, to corroborate the call recordings already in possession of the National Investigation Agency.The agency is also preparing to take him to different places in India, including Kochi, where he had visited several times before and after the carnage took place on November 26 that year, sources said.According to the sources, before taking his voice sample, the investigators would need Rana’s consent and if he refuses, the NIA team can decide to approach the court. Once court’s permission is obtained, experts from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory will be roped in to collect the voice samples, they added.The collected voice sample then could be used for matching Rana’s call record and the investigators would be able to know if he was talking on the phone while giving instructions to the attackers, who caused mayhem, leading to the deaths of 166 people and injuring several hundred.According to the sources, the ‘mystery witness’, who is in the NIA custody, belongs to Kochi, and the investigators plan to take Rana to the southern city and confront him with the person. Rana had also visited the city several times before the attack was unleashed several times and the same person helped him and another accused in the case, David Coleman Headley, in arranging travel logistics. It is learnt that at least two officers of the NIA Kochi unit are part of the team of 12 investigators, who are questioning Rana.The sources said, investigators are also looking into whether Rana was connected to Dawood Ibrahim or his criminal network known as D-Company, which is based in Dubai. Rana is being questioned not just for his role in the Mumbai attacks, but also to see if he was involved in planning similar terror attacks in other Indian cities, they added.Keeping this in mind and also to retrace events that took place 17 years ago to unravel the full scope of the conspiracy, the sources said, the NIA probe team may take Rana to various locations across the country.Besides telling about his origins in Pakistan, family, education, immigration to Canada with his wife and opening the immigration and travel agency in Chicago, Rana largely remained uncooperative, the sources said, adding that he has so far been claiming his inability to recall the chain of events but has confirmed his presence in Mumbai at least one week before the attack.
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