Bombings in Mumbai, an extradition to the US, a terrorist trail in Pune and a hotel bill of 1,240 rupees

Rana and Headley were arrested in the US in October 2009. Rana was convicted in Chicago in 2011 for providing material support to the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the 11/26 attacks. And Headley, a US citizen born to an American mother and a Pakistani father, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role in the 11/26 attacks.

Headley’s role, however, was not limited to just Mumbai attacks there is a Fist trail, too, passing the Indian Army Southern Command, the Chabad Jewish House and the popular German Bakery.

In September 2010, the Maharashtra ATS arrested Himayat Baig, an alleged commander of LeT, in this case of German Bakery. (Express Photo/File)

According to Pune police records, Headley visited Pune twice, in July 2008 and March 2009. Testifying before a special court in Mumbai via video link in February 2016, he claimed that he had inspected the headquarters of the Southern Command of the Indian Army in March. 2009. This operation, he said, was carried out on the instructions of a man he identified as Pakistan’s ISI major Iqbal. The mission, he said, was to try to recruit sources of classified information. Furthermore, Headley said that he had also conducted surveys of Chabad Houses in Pune, Gonna and Pushkar in Rajasthan in the ten days he was in India.

But that is not all.

Pune police suspect that during his visit, Headley visited the railway diesel locomotive shed at Ghorpadi junction, which is close to the exclusive Korea park town. He also visited the Osho Ashram at Koregaon Park, records show.

Intelligence agencies suspect that Headley’s aim was to conduct a survey around Chabad House in Koregaon Park. It is believed that she even visited Chabad House posing as a Jewish American. Incidentally, a book titled “How to Pray Like a Jew” by Headley was recovered after he was arrested in the US in 2009.

More details are available in records mapping Headley’s stay in Pune.

For example, the indian express was the first to report that Headley stayed in room No. 202 of the Surya Villa Hotel in Koregaon Park, a few meters from Chabad House, in March 2009.

Under the “C form”, which is required for foreigners staying in a hotel in India, Headley checked in at 6:15am on March 16, 2009 and checked out at 8:00am on the next day. He had a multiple-entry Indian visa issued from Chicago on July 18, 2007, which was valid until July 17, 2012. On the form, he wrote “180 days” in a query about the length of his stay and listed the purpose visiting as a “tourist”. Strangely, the main hotel record listed the purpose of her visit as “business.”

Hotel records also show that Headley stayed in a single occupancy non-air-conditioned room at a rate of Rs 1,200. His total bill at checkout was Rs 1,240. The sources said that Headley also filmed a video of the German Bakery, as it was a popular place in Pune for Indian and foreign visitors, and had no police security outside.

Headley (around 63 now), however, was arrested in the US months before the German bakery explosion was executed in February 2010, in which 17 people died. He was not named as a defendant in the case.

How the German Bakery case was resolved

In September 2010, the Maharashtra ATS arrested Himayat Baig, an alleged commander of LeT, in this case of German Bakery. According to ATS, the explosion was the work of LeT and members of the Indian Mujahideen (IM). The ATS alleged that Baig was trained in Colombo in March 2008 by LeT agent Fayaz Kagzi and Abu Jundal, both from Beed in Maharashtra and wanted in the Aurangabad RDX seizure case. Baig was charged with executing the German bakery explosion with instant messenger agents Yasin Bhatkal and Mohsin Choudhary.

Abu Jundal was deported from Saudi Arabia to India on June 25, 2012. And Baig was sentenced to death by a Pune court on April 18, 2013; she was later commuted to life imprisonment by the Bombay High Court. On August 29, 2013, Yasin Bhatkal was arrested at the India-Nepal border. The trial against him in the bakery case is still ongoing before a special court in Pune.