The special branch of the Ahmedabad police has registered a complaint against the owner of a hotel where terror-suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana and a woman posing as his wife stayed for two days in November, 2008, prior to the Mumbai attack. The FIR was lodged reportedly at the instance of the National Investigation Agency.
The FIR lodged on Saturday has also named the present and the former managers of the hotel for violation of various rules. This included violation of the Registration of Foreigners Act and running the hotel before obtaining a licence.The City Additional Police Commissioner, special branch, G. N. Malik, said the hotel, Lemon Tree, was issued the license only on November 19, 2008, but its register showed that it started receiving guests from November 7. Tahawwur Rana and Samraz Akhtar stayed in the hotel just before the hotel was issued the licence.
Considered to be an accomplice of Pakistan-born American terrorist David Colman Headley, Tahawwur Rana was believed to have several trips to Ahmedabad apparently to find out suitable locations for terror strikes. Police maintain that both Tahawwur and Headley were involved in plotting and implementing the Mumbai attack. Both were arrested in the U.S. and are in FBI custody.
Among those named in the FIR were the owner Patanjali Keshvani, Prashant Malhotra, who was manager of the hotel when Tahawwur and Samraz stayed there, and the present manager, Shubhash Sharma.