Author: TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 4, 2009
Intelligence bodies, including a National
Investigation Agency (NIA) team, are pursuing specific leads that hint that
Pakistan born American David Coeman Headley had done a recce of the Bed-chabad-a
prayer hall of the Jews-where hundreds of them gather every evening here for
routine prayers. After 26/11, Headley visited Pushkar a couple of times and
spent about a month there.
Besides, there are calls and e-mails from
Pushkar cyber cafes that the NIA team is following up. Officials on Thursday
searched logbooks of almost all the cyber cafes here and questioned a barber
Headley had visited.
"So far, we have confirmed inputs that
Headley stayed in Pushkar and was monitoring his operations from here,'' said
a team member. Headley stayed in Hotel Oasis on March 11 and 12 near Bed-chabad.
"The hotel staff has confirmed that he had taken a room facing the road
where the Jewish prayer hall is located,'' said an investigator.
"We're going to suggest that the security
around the Jewish prayer hall be beefed up. There is a strong possibility
that Headley checked out the place to execute a terror attack in the future,''
said an IB official.
Meanwhile, the IB is searching forms submitted
by the hotel that day to learn the name and passport Headley used. Every hotel
has to fill in a C-form and submit it to local IB. Sleuths hope to find out
more details soon.
