Reward of ₹37 crore announced by US for information on 26/11 mastermind

Nov. 28: Twelve years after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the United States of America has announced a reward of up to USD 5 million (nearly ₹37 crore) for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba member Sajid Mir for his “role” in the attacks in Mumbai in 2008. US Rewards for Justice program said that Sajid Mir was LeT’s operations manager for the Mumbai attack, playing a leading role in its planning, preparation, and execution.

According to the indictment, during the attacks, Mir advised the attackers to kill hostages, set fires, and throw grenades and also sought the release of a hostage in exchange for the release of a captured attacker. A warrant for Mir’s arrest was issued on April 22, 2011. In 2019, Mir was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List. The LeT was designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US Department of State in December 2001.

On November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists, trained by the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation LeT, carried out a series of coordinated attacks against multiple targets in Mumbai — the Taj Mahal Hotel, the Oberoi Hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman (Chabad) House, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus — killing 166 people. In these gruesome attacks, nine terrorists were killed and the lone survivor, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was caught and sentenced to death. On November 11, 2012, Kasab was hanged at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune.