Probe confirms Headley link

Pakistan-born, American citizen, David Headley, had identified Pune’s German Bakery as a potential target during his visits to city Pune, investigators have confirmed.

Pakistan-born, American citizen, David Headley, had identified Pune’s German Bakery as a potential target during his visits to city Pune, investigators have confirmed.

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The police also hope to get a breakthrough in the case “very soon”.

“Investigations are on the right track, in the right direction,” a senior home ministry official said, emphasising that the security agencies had broadly identified the people who were involved.

On Wednesday, Home ministry officials said it was increasingly becoming clear that plans for Saturday evening’s blast that killed 11 people were made on the basis of Headley’s recce.

An alleged Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative, Headley had visited the Osho Ashram located near German Bakery in Koregaon Park twice, in 2008 and 2009.

Home Secretary G.K. Pillai had recently acknowledged that Headley’s two visits to Pune may not be a coincidence.

Sources said a local terror module executed the operation, which was planned by the Lashkar leadership in Pakistan.

Sources said Headley and the men who planted the bomb had not been briefed about closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the hotel opposite the bakery.

There was a CCTV camera in the bakery too but it was positioned to watch people manning the cash counter.

A government source said Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad has even positioned its men in “sensitive locations”— places that suspects may have visited.