Mumbai attacks, a US extradition, a Pune terror trail — and a hotel bill of Rs 1,240

Headley’s role, however, was not just limited to the Mumbai attacks. There is a Pune trail, too, that goes via the Indian Army’s Southern Command, Jewish Chabad House and the popular German Bakery.

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

According to Pune police records, Headley visited Pune twice — in July 2008 and March 2009. Deposing before a special court in Mumbai through video conferencing in February 2016, he claimed that he had surveyed the headquarters of the Southern Command of the Indian Army in March 2009. This operation, he said, was conducted on instructions from a man he identified as Major Iqbal of Pakistan’s ISI. The mission, he said, was to try and recruit sources for classified information. In addition, Headley said he had also conducted recces of Chabad Houses in Pune, Goa and Pushkar in Rajasthan in the ten days he was in India.

But that’s not all.

Pune Police suspect that during his visit, Headley visited the Railway Locomotive Diesel Shed at the Ghorpadi crossing, which is near the upscale Koregaon Park locality. He also visited the Osho Ashram in 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 he even visited Chabad House posing as a Jewish American. Incidentally, a book titled “How to Pray Like Jew” was recovered from Headley after he was arrested in the US in 2009.

There are more details available in records that map Headley’s Pune sojourn.

For instance, The Indian Express was the first to report that Headley stayed in Room No. 202 of Hotel Surya Villa in Koregaon Park, a few metres away from Chabad House, in March 2009.

According to the “C-form”, which is mandatory for foreigners staying at a hotel in India, Headley checked in at 6.15 am on March 16, 2009, and checked out at 8 am a day later. He had a multiple entry Indian visa issued from Chicago on July 18, 2007, which was valid up to July 17, 2012. On the form, he wrote “180 days” to a query on his duration of stay, and listed the purpose of visit as “tourist”. Strangely, the main register at the hotel carried his purpose of visit as “business”.

The hotel’s records also show that Headley stayed in a single occupancy non-AC room with a tariff of Rs 1,200. His total bill at the time of check-out was Rs 1,240. Sources said Headley also filmed a video of German Bakery as it was a popular spot in Pune for Indian and foreign visitors, and had no police security outside.

Headley (aged around 63 now), however, was arrested in the US months before the German Bakery blast was executed in February 2010, which killed 17 people. He was not named as an accused in the case.

How the German Bakery case was cracked

In September 2010, the Maharashtra ATS arrested Himayat Baig, alleged LeT commander, in this German Bakery case. According to ATS, the blast was the handiwork of LeT and Indian Mujahideen (IM) members. The ATS alleged that Baig was trained in Colombo in March 2008 by LeT operative Fayaz Kagzi and Abu Jundal, both from Beed in Maharashtra and wanted in the Aurangabad RDX seizure case. Baig was accused of executing the German Bakery blast with IM operatives Yasin Bhatkal and Mohsin Choudhary.

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