Mumbai:
There are now reports that David Headley used filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul Bhatt as a cover for his reconnaissance of 26/11 targets like the Taj, the Trident and Leopold Cafe.
Sources say Headley insisted on taking an unsuspecting Rahul to these places. The visits to these targets took place between November 2006 and March 2008.
Sources in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) say that Rahul had neither any inkling of Headley's designs nor could he understand the code language the Lashkar frontman used while talking on the phone.
Rahul is believed to have told the investigators that he found Headley's behaviour odd at times and it is only now that he has realised that what Headley spoke on the phone was some code language.
Home Ministry sources have already said that investigators do not consider Rahul a suspect, but efforts are on to ascertain if he had unwittingly helped American terror suspect David Headley.
Moreover, in a statement that could come as some relief to Rahul Bhatt, Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police, Rakesh Maria told NDTV that Rahul was only being looked upon as a witness at the moment.
Maria also made a point of the fact that Rahul had come up to the police to tell them that he knew Headley. Maria said: "Rahul Bhatt came to us with information voluntarily that the Rahul being referred to in the emails is him. So, it is wrong to prejudge his guilt. Rahul is a witness at the moment."
Earlier, Rahul, who was befriended by Lashkar operative David Headley in a gym, was told not to leave Mumbai till investigation in the case is over. Two of his friends have also been asked not to leave the city.
Rahul Bhatt was a trainer in a posh Mumbai gym where Headley was a member. The Bhatt family has claimed that it was Rahul who approached investigators after realising who Headley was.
Headley, a key suspect in a terror plot against India and Denmark uncovered by the FBI, was arrested in Chicago last month.