A team comprising senior advocate and ace criminal lawyer Dayan Krishnan and special prosecutor Narender Mann is set to lead the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) prosecution in New Delhi against Tahawwur Rana who has been extradited from the US nearly 16 years after his arrest for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
While both lawyers have decades of experience in leading cases for the prosecution, Krishnan, who is also considered an expert in extradition law, led India’s arguments for the extradition of Rana in a US court.
He was also the special public prosecutor in the proceedings for the extradition of David Coleman Headley, the Lashkar-e-Taiba scout for the 26/11 attacks, from the US, and was special counsel for CBI in the extradition of Ravi Shankaran, a retired Navy officer accused of leaking classified information, from the UK. He was part of a four-member team which visited Chicago to interrogate Headley.
He was also a special counsel of CBI, on behalf of the Indian government, in the extradition of Raymond Varley from the UK, accused in the Goa child abuse scandal.
A graduate of the National Law School of India University, Krishnan was designated as a senior advocate by the Delhi High Court in 2014. He has a prolific criminal practice, handling several high-profile cases over the years.
Some of the key cases that he has handled as a prosecutor include the 2001 Parliament attack case and the 2012 Delhi gangrape case, in which the accused got the death sentence.
Currently, Krishnan appears for several government agencies and their instrumentalities, including for the Delhi Police, Wrestling Federation of India. He also appears as amicus curiae, including in a recent case at Delhi High Court where the state was directed earlier this month to frame guidelines for securing property rights of orphan children.
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The Ministry of Home Affairs has appointed advocate Narender Mann who is a former CBI counsel. The 58-year-old lawyer has been appointed a special public prosecutor for three years in Rana’s case.
From January 2011 to April 2019, Mann was appointed as special public prosecutor to represent the CBI before the Delhi High Court.
Among the cases in which he appeared were the 2G telecom spectrum scam and appeals in the case involving an attempt to assassinate Chief Justice of India A N Ray in 1975. The Delhi High Court upheld the conviction in 2014.
