New Delhi: Mumbai terror attacks accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who was extradited to India from the US on Thursday, will definitely get convicted in the country possibly with a death sentence for his involvement in the dastardly terrorist act, former Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai said on Thursday. He said Rana was an associate of David Colemon Headley, who played a much significant role in the 26/11 attacks.

"Rana was the person who set up the immigration office (of his firm) in Mumbai in which David Headley was given the job and then he got a visa to come to India. The cover for Headley was provided by Rana. So, he and Headley were very close, and they knew what was happening. So that is something which his interrogation in India will bring out and what Headley had told him," Pillai said. He said Rana was not the person who did the survey of the Taj hotel and other places where the terrorists will land.

"All that was done by David Headley. He was the person who came to India, then went to Pakistan and shared all the information (to terrorists in Pakistan). But as a co-conspirator, Rana will definitely get convicted in India and possibly (get) a death sentence or 10 years or more," said Pillai, who took over as the home secretary barely six months after the deadliest terror strike.

On Pakistan's role in 26/11 terror attacks, he said that link has already been established during the NIA (National Investigation Agency) investigation and "we had the other accused who were there in Pakistan against whom warrants have been issued but not executed by Pakistan". "So, that link was very clearly established initially with some cooperation from Pakistan.

But subsequently Pakistan has been stonewalling the entire investigation. They didn't try them (accused) in Pakistan either and did not hand them to us for trial in India," the former Home Secretary said.

Another former Home Secretary and former Union minister R K Singh said Rana's extradition is a very big achievement for the country. He said this extradition is a message to other terrorists that "if you go somewhere and attack a country, that doesn't mean that you can stay in any other country".