Did Headley visit Pushkar to plot attack on Jews?

AJMER: Was Pakistan-born American David Coleman Headley in Pushkar plotting an attack on Israeli tourists visiting the holy town? Intelligence bodies, including a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, are pursuing some specific leads which hint that Headley had done a recce of the Bed-chabad — the prayer hall of the Jews — where hundreds of them gather every evening for routine prayers. After 26/11, Headley visited Pushkar a couple of times and spent about a month there.

Besides, there are certain calls and e-mails sent from Pushkar cyber-cafes that the special team of NIA is following up. Officials on Thursday searched log-books of almost all the cyber cafes in Pushkar 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 an NIA team member. The team said 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 oversaw 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. The team also got the name of two more hotels, one near Pushkar Sarovar and the other near the Brahma temple. The owner has identified Headley’s sketches and confirmed his stay in their hotel last December/January.

Local intelligence has gathered that Headley came to Pushkar on a local bus and talked and behaved like an American tourist.