26/11 Mastermind's Cat-and-Mouse Game: How Rana Dodges Investigators

Officials who are part of the probe say that Rana's interrogation has been a tricky one. One would have imagined that he would divulge information easily and the interrogation would not drag on for months.

However, owing to his training by the Pakistan Army and then the ISI, he is good at dodging questions.

Rana was a former military doctor with the Pakistan Army. He was then roped into the ISI and told to operate from Canada. He was the one who prepared the travel documents and also made other arrangements for David Headley when he visited India.

Rana is a smart operative and sticks to the script. He has been telling his interrogators, most of which is already known an official said.

He does speak about the ISI's role in the attack and also the things he did to help Headley. He has also spoken about Ilyas Kashmiri and the larger plan that they had to undertake Ghazwa-e-Hind. However when it comes to speaking about the larger picture and how deeply the Pakistan deep-state was involved in the attack, Rana does not give a clear picture.

He is making good use of the training he had undertaken while in the Pakistan Army. He is determined to defend the top brass in Pakistan and gives an impression that no matter what, he will not divulge further details, officials said.

An official said that "there is no doubt that he is being difficult. He changes his version multiple times, but Indian officials are very confident of cracking him."

"The only thing that is needed is time and over the next couple of months, Rana will reveal much more," the officer explained.

Rana has read through the entire Headley confession. On aspects where Headley takes his name, he does not deny having any association with him. Earlier, Rana had said that Headley was involved in the attack and he knew about the same.

However Rana has flipped that statement as of today. He does acknowledge that Headley was his childhood friend.

Headley had said that it was Rana's travel firm that he used in order to make his visits to India. Rana does agree that his company was used by Headley, but in the same breath he says that he did not know the reasons behind his visits to India.

He also said that he did not know that Headley was visiting India on a reconnaissance mission.

Another official said that he is giving contradictory versions to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Mumbai Police. This is clearly a tactic to distract the investigators.

He had told the NIA that he was present in Mumbai at the time of the attack. He even spoke with them about the other trips he had made within India during the same period. However, with the police he has a different version and said that he had nothing to do with the attacks.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that Rana would be a hard nut to crack. This is mostly to do with the training that he underwent while he was with the Pakistan Army. They are trained specifically to dodge questions and also confuse investigators and Rana is doing just that.

This is also a delaying tactic, so that the trial against him does not begin anytime soon. Another official said that Rana would do his best to delay or stall the probe. His intention is to first protect the top brass in Pakistan.

He also intends to delay the probe so that the trial takes a very long time to begin in India. This would eventually end up delaying his sentencing as well, officers explained.

On this date, 17 years ago 10 terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba stormed Mumbai and carried out one of the most audacious attacks that claimed 166 lives.

- IANS