New Delhi:
More than 20 teams in India are spending their days and nights trying to re-trace the steps of David Headley and Tahawwur Rana, who have both been arrested by the FBI for plotting terror attacks against India.
The crux of the investigation now: did the two men help plan and execute 26/11?
Intelligence sources say it's clear that Headley and Rana were in Pakistan during the attacks on Mumbai last year. Rana, in fact, left Mumbai just five days before Kasab and 9 other Pakistanis arrived in the city and unleashed India's worst terror attack.
(At a glance: The evidence so far)Before that, during multiple trips to Mumbai, both men surveyed all four places that were targeted on 26/11: the Taj, the Trident, the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) , and Nariman House. Headley stayed at the Taj and the Trident in 2007, and rented a flat in Breach Candy close to the CST station in 2008, while Rana stayed at a guesthouse in Mumbai.
So how did Rana and Headley maange visas for their various trips to India? External Affairs Minister SM Krishna says "All these issues will be looked at very closely."
India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) will question Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist captured during the attacks, on whether he knew Headley and Rana. Investigators are also looking at whether Kasab and the others were provided photographs and videos of the four places they stormed by Headley and Rana.
(Also Read: My father sold me to Lashkar, says Kasab)The Pakistani government has not commented on the latest revelation that Headley and Rana were in Pakistan during 26/11. Both of them left Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks on December 7, 2009.
Meanwhile, Indian intelligence officials are in Canada to gather more information on Rana, since he's a Canadian citizen. (Who is:
David Headley I
Tahawwur Rana)
Everyday, new information suggests that Headley and Rana moved freely across India, laying the ground for a terror offensive. They travelled to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Agra, Kochi, Surat, and Ahmedabad, posing as immigration agents. Headley also visited the Osho Ashram in Pune twice, once last year, and then in March this year. (
Read: Osho Ashram |
Pics: Headley trail |
Read: Headley travel and stay). On Tuesday, the Delhi Police has found that in March, Headley visited two cybercafes in Paharganj before leaving for Pakistan. The Delhi Police is going through the registers for both cybercafes for more information.
The National Investigating Agency is trying to figure out who Headley and Rana met in India, as also the candidates they recruited and sent abroad for terror training, using their immigration agency as a cover.
(Read/Watch: Were Headley, Rana recruiting for the Lashkar?)For now, all cities in India that are home to nuclear plants are on alert. That's because a Pakistani spy arrested over the weekend was carrying photographs of the Narora Atomic Plant in Uttar Pradesh. It's believed that Headley also surveyed some nuclear plants in Maharashtra and Gujarat from a distance. Officials point out that nuclear plants are heavily guarded with naval and army cover.
(Read/Watch: India's nuclear centres on alert)An FBI team arrives in India on Wednesday to join the effort to figure out how Rana and Headley operated. The FBI has less than two months to frame charges against the men in a US court. (
Watch: How FBI nailed Rana, Headley)